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[runlvlzero]

I just embarked at three forts were the site finder said shallow metal, deep metal, and flux all positive. One site were I dug down to cavern 3 (I only found 2 layers with zinc ore). The next forts I embarked all had shale, gabbro, slate, no ores anywhere I could find after mining huge patterns in about 5-8 layers, I have mineral scarcity at the default 2500. Usually when I was embarking I was getting veins pretty much in a 5x5 square on the first stone layers.

Just chalking it up to bad luck, but I'm curious, I tried some small-large region and island worlds. Just abandoning the fort if I don't find shallow minerals within the first 3-4 layers.

I used to play with scarcity up around 2700, 2750 and never had this kind of luck in 34.02 and 31.25 versions.

[Crosu]

You need to set mineral scarcity lower to get more minerals, it is a bit counter-intuitive.
For example the 'frequent' mineral setting in the standard world-gen sets the value to 500.

To address the general issue. Did you only dig down or did you excavate more of the single z-levels to find ore veins?
Also flux includes marble which is very common overall but isnt present in sedimentary layers which include iron ores.

[white_darkness]

Read here.  That was some fun research.

[runlvlzero]

@Crosu, roger that, I use to play with more scarcity and never had much problems finding veins. I'm bringing the numbers down and genning a new world =) Just to be on the safe side. I like to explore zigzag all over horizontally. Or in big crosses that link to each other at random spots.

@white_darkness thanks for the link on the *SCIENCE* (tm), I was mostly just wondering if things changed a bit in the newer updates. But its worth a look =)

[white_darkness]

Probably not.  I don't think anything was fixed in that regard.

I still have found memories of only having cobaltite at 2500.

[saltmummy626]

I have this trouble as well. except I get lots of sphalerite and little of anything else. its probably just bad luck though.

[NonconsensualSurgery]

"Shallow/deep metal" means that there's a metal at the specified depth. Not necessarily a good metal, just a smeltable metal of some sort. "Deep" doesn't seem to be that deep either, so two layers with sphalerite and then nothing until adamantite (not counted in the finder) is possible.

In the site finder you can change shallow/deep metal yes to shallow/deep metal multiple. "Multiple" is satisfied by there being at least two kinds of metals at that depth. Which two metals? Zinc and nickel if the RNG hates you.

... I usually dig a staircase straight down as soon as I start a map. If I don't see useful metals pretty soon then on to the next site.

[Flying Dice]

Just... get dfhack, and use the prospect function on your potential embark location. It'll give you a general reading on the layer contents of the site; if the site has multiple shallow and deep metals, and dfhack gives you a return that includes sedimentary rocks (sandstone, shale, conglomerate, etc.) or any of the fluxes other than marble, you're pretty much assured of at least some iron and coal.

[Girlinhat]

Also try "prospect help".  You'll notice that "prospect all" will give a report on ores and gems before you embark, though it's inaccurate because the site hasn't been generated yet, it's accurate enough to let you know what exists or doesn't.

[Dark Like Snipes]

I had the same problem in 34.02, gabro, granite, marble, and some others all the way to the bottom, with the only metals being some native gold, platinum, and cobaltite, even when I had volcanism set to its absolute minimums and mineral scarcity at maximum. I hadn't played since 40d so this was a bit strange to me, but it seems sedimentary layers are MUCH rarer in good locations (ie next to mountains you can dig into) than they used to be. Rare as they are they do exist however, and the best way I've found for getting to them is to go into your raws and delete the flux tag for marble until you find your embark location. To do this go into your DF directory > Raw > Objects > inorganic_stone_layer.txt, and look for the entry for marble (mine is at the very bottom) and delete the bit that says [REACTION_CLASS:FLUX]. This will keep the embark finder from seeing marble as a viable flux and returning the entire map as a good embark location, and will point you to places that have flux that are much more likely to have useful metals in them (usually limestone). Keeping the tag off will make it so marble won't function as a flux stone however, but you can add it back in after you find your desired embark location. It will still take you some effort to find a good embark location still, but I was able to find a solid one this way with a huge cliff faced mountain (going up about 40 z levels straight up above the river level) that's almost all sedimentary with lots of metal and limestone above the surface, and much more sedimentary goodness around the river and down about 7 z levels beneath it (The rest is the usual rock that I had been getting). I also second Flying Dices notion of using dfhack to help your search, as it made it a hell of a lot less tedious and annoying for me. Using prospect on the embark screen will give you a general view of whats in the embark location if thats all you want to know, or if you're a construction and megaproject person like me you can go in and reveal the map to see exactly what it has and if you'll be able to pull off what you're going for.

[Mr.Elendig]

I just embarked at three forts were the site finder said shallow metal, deep metal, and flux all positive. One site were I dug down to cavern 3 (I only found 2 layers with zinc ore). The next forts I embarked all had shale, gabbro, slate, no ores anywhere I could find after mining huge patterns in about 5-8 layers, I have mineral scarcity at the default 2500. Usually when I was embarking I was getting veins pretty much in a 5x5 square on the first stone layers.

Just chalking it up to bad luck, but I'm curious, I tried some small-large region and island worlds. Just abandoning the fort if I don't find shallow minerals within the first 3-4 layers.

I used to play with scarcity up around 2700, 2750 and never had this kind of luck in 34.02 and 31.25 versions.

If you want more than one type of ore, you want metals(note the s), also some non-metal bearing rocks does count as an ore in the site finder.

And the flux bit is somewhat unreliable, specially if you embark on the edge of the biome that is suposed to have it.

[Psieye]

I'm rather surprised you never hit this problem until now when running with scarcity that high. That's a string of good luck you've had there which just now ended. When the site finder says "metal", it means you'll run into something that gives the message "You have struck ___________". Be that sphalerite, cobaltite or even microcline.

[runlvlzero]

I'm rather surprised you never hit this problem until now when running with scarcity that high. That's a string of good luck you've had there which just now ended. When the site finder says "metal", it means you'll run into something that gives the message "You have struck ___________". Be that sphalerite, cobaltite or even microcline.

Very true, I took it down to 2300 and found a good embark with some Iron and Flux before the first cavern )

Ya I was getting allot of microline, so that must have been confusing site finder a bit. Good to know.

[robertheinrich]

Microcline is no metal ore, though.