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[janamdo]

In the status screen: STONE , this screen lists all economic stones found within the game ( IN GENERAL OR IN MY GAME? )
I looked at goblinite ore, but is not listed here ?

So its not clear what the purpose of this screen is

I try to find some iron ore ( hematite, magnetite , limonite ) , but there is a soil layer and further deeper granite , gabbo and more to rock to at least - lv 44
How deep are the iron ores be found ?  .. in sedimentary layer.. 

Note: did not pay attention to this during embark setup for finding  iron
 ores ( what was my initial embark setup ? ) 

[delphonso]

Stone lists everything in the raws, I believe. So that's everything in the game world and should update with mods as well. It is not what is on your map.

Goblinite is a joke term we use here. It means the metal weapons and armor that goblins wear. Remember, you can melt that.

If you have ores on your map, they can be pretty much anywhere under soil. Mountains usually have ore visible on the sides of cliffs and walls. Dig some horizontal tunnels to reveal more tiles if you don't have any ores.

Your embark might have no metal, or no iron. That's sort of luck. I think DFHack can tell you before embarking, but I don't know.

[Sver]

Generally speaking, if on the embark location screen you see "Shallow metals" (plural "metals" - it's important) and "Flux" there's very likely gonna be iron.

[feelotraveller]

Iron ores, if they exist on your map, will be in the top few stone layers, generally the first 6-10 z levels of stone (sedimentary).  Hematite and Limonite are both found in veins whereas Magnetite is found in larger patches.

The stone status screen allows permiting the use of stone for general stonecrafting/masonry/building or forbidding such use.  The default settings reserve 'economic' stones for better uses, say smelting iron for Hematite or making steel/pig iron from Marble.  Each stone on the economic tab has potential uses that are not general.  It is your choice to allow/forbid and that can be informed by your embark - for example when I have a lot of flux stone I often permit it for general use because it is more valuable but if I have only a little it will be used for nothing but steel.

Non-economic (other) stone can similarly be forbidden.  This might be useful if you only have a couple of boulders of a type which a dwarf has a preference for, so that later you can make nice items for them out of it.  Or if you want to reserve a uniquely coloured stone for a particular use.

When embarking it is worth paying attention to the summary of likely ores for each biome.  If you want a lot then best chances are given with shallow metals (for iron) and deep metals, or specifying multiple as the setting in the find desired location options.

[PatrikLundell]

DFHack provides several ways to find out what you've got on your embark. "prospect" pre embark will tell you what's likely to be found (using estimates), while using the same command after embark will tell you exactly what you've got. The Embark Assistant allows you to search for embarks with various profiles, including specific metals (using the logic taken from prospect[or] to determine what's present).

But yes, goblinite can save embarks completely without metal, and you can also trade for it from dwarven and human caravans. There's also the "visitite" you can "mine" from visitors (with or without killing them first).

[janamdo]

DFHack provides several ways to find out what you've got on your embark. "prospect" pre embark will tell you what's likely to be found (using estimates), while using the same command after embark will tell you exactly what you've got. The Embark Assistant allows you to search for embarks with various profiles, including specific metals (using the logic taken from prospect[or] to determine what's present).

But yes, goblinite can save embarks completely without metal, and you can also trade for it from dwarven and human caravans. There's also the "visitite" you can "mine" from visitors (with or without killing them first).

Thanks
Yes, that's for a new fort then.

[janamdo]

Thanks all
Its a lot to know about how to get iron ore
I am now in a present fortress and  did not pay attention to the ores when i choose a world embark

So i must now analyse the present biome ? ..what's to find underground.
 

[PatrikLundell]

Well, either you use the DFHack command "prospect" to see what's available, or you just play and see what you encounter and adapt accordingly.

[janamdo]

Well, either you use the DFHack command "prospect" to see what's available, or you just play and see what you encounter and adapt accordingly.

Thanks
Automining is also possible in DF... don't  know how to do this.
I am not really enthousiastic if it not follows a natural game playing
Ofcourse i am curious to see what is available.   

[Shonai_Dweller]

Well, either you use the DFHack command "prospect" to see what's available, or you just play and see what you encounter and adapt accordingly.

Thanks
Automining is also possible in DF... don't  know how to do this.
I am not really enthousiastic if it not follows a natural game playing
Ofcourse i am curious to see what is available.   

Automated tools are for those who want to use automated tools. They're not necessary to play the game.

Don't have iron? Kill goblins, take theirs. Accidentally drown the visitors, take theirs. Make valuable goods, buy iron. Dig way, way down and see if there's anything better than iron down there (there is, but be careful...).

Oh, and if you want to cheat, but don't want to use tools, there's a way to strip your visiting mercenaries and monster hunters of their weapons and armour without upsetting or killing them (natural gameplay bug exploitation...).

[delphonso]

Several undead will come with steel these days. If you can kill them, catch them, or otherwise dispose of them, you can get quite good gear.

[Shonai_Dweller]

Several undead will come with steel these days. If you can kill them, catch them, or otherwise dispose of them, you can get quite good gear.

Right at this very moment steel clad zombies are advancing on my fortress, so I can say this is definitely true.

Of course, I have no military, no traps and the steel itself is attached to 75 undead minotaurs, so I might have to give this delivery a pass. 

[delphonso]

*knock knock* Delivery!

[feelotraveller]

Also remember that while steel is undoubtedly the best weapon/armour material there is also bronze (and bismuth bronze) which are pretty much equal to iron overall.  This is assuming that you can get cassiterite*/tin - but the relevance is that copper ores and cassiterite can (and usually are) found as deep metals.   So all is not lost if you do not have iron!  I've had several successful forts where the military predominantly used bronze. 

* Cassiterite is rarer than iron in my experience.

[janamdo]

Thanks
I do want to try automining, but must click with mouse on a starttile, but clicking now with mouse gives not the desired result thtathe tile is selected.
Maybe it is a LNP option for DF hack ..mouse controls

No … Automating Ore/Gems: Once this tile has been processed, all neighboring tiles will be marked for mining, if they contain the same ore or gems. Can only be designated on revealed ores/gems. Will appear green.
The starttile must contain a ore/gema and then has a green color

The embark is not close to a mountainous area and probably there are no fluxlayers here ( not realized then during embark), but it doesn't matter because embark everywhere can be challence.
Caravans can bring fluxstones ? 
So i think there wil be no iron ore here : it is yellow sand and sandy clay and then rocky..that is no sedimentary layer

Just for curosity i enter prospect in DFhack : Base material, liquids, layer materials, Ores= 0 , gems , and so on