Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Author Topic: Magma prospecting methods  (Read 1156 times)

Gus Smedstad

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Magma prospecting methods
« on: May 08, 2010, 08:19:32 am »

In my last game, I went straight for the Magma Sea, and as I was building my pump stack bringing up magma from level 7, I discovered a magma tube that reached up to level 121.  Which left me understandably annoyed, since that's 100+ pumps I didn't need to build, and pump construction is much slower than just exploration.

So what do you do, normally, when looking for magma?  Explore each cavern as you encounter it?  Or just go for the sea and forget looking for higher sources?

 - Gus
Logged

Shoku

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Magma prospecting methods
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2010, 09:05:14 am »

I generate a world with high volcanism so that pools will most likely show up and then I explore the layers.

I haven't bothered with pumping it up to the surface though. Traders bring goods to the bottom of the world just fine.
Logged
Please get involved with my making worlds thread.

Dave Mongoose

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Magma prospecting methods
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2010, 09:11:07 am »

Since a magma tube cuts through every layer, you're quite likely to reveal it if you scout out the caverns. They're large enough that it's unlikely for one to pass through a cavern layer without being exposed.

Otherwise it's just luck - I happened to breach the caverns right next to the top of a magma pipe, and I wasn't even expecting to have one on this map.
Logged