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[Porpoisepower]

It occurred to me that a Scouting proffession(Part of a Geologist, along with Mining) would be really cool.
Here are my reasons.

1. While a having knowledge of the above ground terrain, is fairly reasonable, once breaking into a cave, pool, or pipe knowing the COMPLETE size and shape of the feature is a little out there. 

2. Current resource seeking/exploratory mining slows pace of what could be otherwise fun forts, and hinders game performance.

3. Dwarves in all practicality would probably have a system for taking samples and predicting where to find ores, minerals, magma, aquifers, HFS etc.

4. Cut down on mining incidents destroying huge forts.

5. Miners would stop being the loneliest proffession.(they could share their grey uniforms with Geologists)

Proposed functionality:
Having someone who's job it is who can estimate based on skill level, a certain amount of surrounding open, and even maybe less open (Say Unskilled Geoligist, can "reveal" 5 squares radius of open area and 0 closed areas, but a novice might reveal 8-10 square radius, and 1 square of what otherwise would be unrevealable stone.

Expierence would be rewarded on "interesting" things revealed. In otherwords Revealing Soil, Basalt and other "boring" squares would  not generate expierence but a revealing a gem patch or a vein of copper would.

[Rowanas]

SEARCH THE FORUM

It's already in the dev notes along with vein mining by a single designation.

[Pilsu]

All this would be a matter for embark. Dwarves using precognition to reveal tiles makes little sense but a geological estimate of site resources on embark would work

While not realistic, I'd like if dwarven civs scouted out underground rivers. They'd have to be somewhat less infested with unbelievable amounts of crap and be a bit larger than little streams but still, finding the river is a pain in the butt. A cheat code would be nice at least

[Porpoisepower]

I did search.

Only I searched the suggestions and I didn't get single hit.
I'm sorry I didn't search the full forum. Chill out. Seriously.
Forum nazis have their own z-level in HFS.

Apparently whatever I used to search last night had the wrong keywords.
Still I get sick of seeing people accusing people of not searching.  Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't. sometimes old threads are so outdated they don't apply anymore, or so derailed getting anything useful out of them is like searching for clovers with extra pedals.

Edit: I really need to preview my posts. My sincere apologies

[Rowanas]

Relax. I type those things in capitals so that people definitely see them, it's not because I'm about to rage or anything.

[Porpoisepower]

Oh. It's all good then.

[buman]

you mentioned Nazis on the internet, for shame

[Rowanas]

Nazi gold!

[madrain]

Forum nazis have their own z-level in HFS.

I lol'd

[Bricks]

Forum nazis have their own z-level in HFS.

I lol'd

Yeah, that is actually remarkably clever.

I think your scouting profession is a little too broad - the only other job that seems to get bogged up with that many responsibilities is masonry.  But adding more geology-related jobs sounds like fun.  Let's see what I can come up with:

Surveying
There is probably a better name for it (and made this could be "geologist", though I would think that would be an over-arching name, like Farmer or Ranger).  Basically your idea of predicting what sort of ore and features are around.  Skill level could determine the quality/accuracy and how far through the layers predictions are made.

Spelunking
Pseudo-military occupation, like hunting, that you designate to explore underground areas.  Could be named better for the sake of above-ground exploration, too, depending if/how that is implemented.  Possibly makes use of a climbing skill/ropes to explore otherwise unreachable levels.  Should have some sort weapon, and possibly works in squads to minimize deaths.  Skill level is somewhat questionable, like hunting, it is a conglomerate of talents that are applied to a certain task.

Prospecting, aka There's Gold in Them Thar Hills
Sometimes you have a ton useless layabouts consuming more than they produce.  On maps with flowing water, but little in the way of useful resources, you could order your less talented dwarves to start panhandling in the nearest stream to pay for their keep.  Silly, but could be useful for adventurers and young forts.  Skill level would obviously dictate success rate/speed.  Very similar to fishing.

Archaeology
Or paleontology, not sure which is more general.  It's probably mentioned in the underground diversity thread.  Unearthing old, dead megabeasts would be very cool, and their could be artifacts of lost civilizations or something else.  Normal miners wouldn't be careful enough to unearth these things without destroying them, and there's nothing like a masterwork plaster cast of T-Rex to compliment that dining room.  It would give something fun to do with soil layers, too.  Skill level should dictate recovery of certain generic artifacts, like old coins or small fossils, and higher skill would represent the rate at which they "mine" out larger fossils.  Could also have another job for identifying certain recovered items - maybe that old spear you found is actually a lost artifact.  Face it, dwarves would love museums.

Mineral Extraction
Could be totally period-inappropriate, but minerals and gems could be drawn from otherwise useless piles of generic stone, sort of how melting down useless metal gear gives small amounts of metal (which eventually add up to a full bar).  Skill would affect recovery rates, value of minerals found, and chance to find gems.

[Granite26]

1: I think surveying is the wrong word.  It doesn't mean that, and that's why you didn't drum up any search results.  Try assaying or prospecting
3: Same here.  Prospecting just doesn't mean that.  Try Panning
5: Mineral Extraction is neat, but it's already doable as a smelter reaction.  Just set up every rock as 1/10 (or worse) value for ores.

[Bricks]

1: I think surveying is the wrong word.  It doesn't mean that, and that's why you didn't drum up any search results.  Try assaying or prospecting
3: Same here.  Prospecting just doesn't mean that.  Try Panning
5: Mineral Extraction is neat, but it's already doable as a smelter reaction.  Just set up every rock as 1/10 (or worse) value for ores.

Well, my interest in geology is limited to rocks of the cubic, digital type.  I didn't actually search for any of these names.  As far as mineral extraction goes - the same could be said for a number of ideas, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be implemented in game.  Eventually everything a workshop does will be a reaction, anyway, making that argument increasingly silly.  Also, thanks for pointing that out, I'm definitely going to mod that in.

[IHateOutside]

knowing what i'm about to dig my farm layer in would be helpful, coz i keep hitting rock in a soil level which makes me RAEG!

Also, Godwins Law

[Porpoisepower]

Archaeology
Or paleontology, not sure which is more general.  It's probably mentioned in the underground diversity thread.  Unearthing old, dead megabeasts would be very cool, and their could be artifacts of lost civilizations or something else.  Normal miners wouldn't be careful enough to unearth these things without destroying them, and there's nothing like a masterwork plaster cast of T-Rex to compliment that dining room.  It would give something fun to do with soil layers, too.  Skill level should dictate recovery of certain generic artifacts, like old coins or small fossils, and higher skill would represent the rate at which they "mine" out larger fossils.  Could also have another job for identifying certain recovered items - maybe that old spear you found is actually a lost artifact.  Face it, dwarves would love museums.


Mineral Extraction
Could be totally period-inappropriate, but minerals and gems could be drawn from otherwise useless piles of generic stone, sort of how melting down useless metal gear gives small amounts of metal (which eventually add up to a full bar).  Skill would affect recovery rates, value of minerals found, and chance to find gems.

On Archeology I like this idea...  I think I like the idea of relics abit more, something similar to artifacts, but made from legendary beasts and heros that have"magical" like enhancements, like bronze mace made from the long lost arm of some colossus that's wondering arround crushing kobolds and elves, has bonus damage. Or maybe a totem made from some human's skull who was renowned for his shield use that gives a small bonus to shield use skill of thos e that carry it in their inventory.

As for mineral exraction, I think that it should include metal extraction, and not be counted as a craft skill.