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[Stargazer]

So, I'm beginning to wonder whether the site I have chosen has any iron whatsoever. I have tons of marble, malachite, schist, silver, various stones and such. I've dug down several layers, discovered a massive cavern, dug all around that, and am in the process of going even deeper without any iron in sight.

My question is two-fold: a) Is it possible to pick a site without any iron in it? and b) If not, then just how deep do I have to dig to finally get some?

[existent]

Yes, it is. Have you tried using reveal or whatever to look? Also, http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Stone_layers

[smjjames]

Yes, it is. Have you tried using reveal or whatever to look? Also, http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Stone_layers

Do you have a sedimentary stone layer? You can use the DFprospector tool that cones with the DFhack package which will tell you what stones (besides layer stones) you have in the embark zone.

[Stargazer]

...well frack. I have copper, and apparently also have tin somewhere, but not iron or coal whatsoever. -_-

[Kuriak]

You aren't going to find iron (hematite, magnetite, limonite) in metamorphic layers (marble, schist, slate, etc).

Your site either needs to have sedimentary layers (chalk, limestone, sandstone, etc) or igneous extrusive layers (rhyolite, basalt, obsidian, and so on).

So yes, if you embarked on a site with 0 of the above types of layers, you won't find any iron. No worries though, the goblins will be kind enough to bring you some.

[greycat]

Without iron, you should aim for bronze for your armor and weapons.  Bronze is the third best, after adamantium and steel.

You'll need cassiterite (tin) and any of the copper ores (malachite, tetrahedrite, or native copper).

[smjjames]

Tetrahedrite tends to be found every dang where, so getting the copper shouldn't be a problem. Finding the tin might be a problem though.

[Khift]

Bismuth bronze is a step above bronze and below steel and is likely the best metal the OP can get without a heavy duty goblinite mining operation. Bismuthinite is hard to find, just realize that one piece of bismuthinite is essentially four weapons or pieces of armor though. (One bismuth bar + two copper bars + one tin bar = four bismuth bronze bars.)

Look for cassiterite in igneous intrusive layers like granite, gabbro, and diorite. Bismuthinite is found in the same layers, but in small clusters like gems, platinum and aluminum are -- when looking for it place mine shafts tight together to reveal almost all the tiles; I've seen bismuthinite clusters as small as 2x2, but even that yields sixteen pieces of bismuth bronze gear.

[Mini]

Bismuth bronze is a step above bronze and below steel...

Actually it's exactly the same as normal bronze, other than getting twice as much per bar of tin.

[Khift]

Aaaand, you're right, or at least the wiki says you are. Shows me for reading too much into one sentence.

Well, that certainly saves a lot of time and fuel. Smelting straight to bronze is extremely efficient for fuel, netting you two bars per one fuel if smelted straight from ore so it is an excellent metal for pre-magma weapons and armor. (Steel is three fuel per bar pre-magma and one per bar post magma, in comparison.)

[FleshForge]

Keep in mind that even if you don't have coal, you can burn wood and make charcoal - and if you don't have trees, well, you can irrigate a big section of underground excavation and after you crack any of the caverns, trees will start growing there.  Lack of iron and flux stone you have to deal with through trading, and quantities there will be tiny compared to what you can mine even in a map with sparse iron.

[Dearnen]

Humans caravans usually have a lot of bronze stuff available too, if the tin proves difficult to find.  Make sure your Mountainhomes liaison knows you want steel on the next dwarf caravan.  If all else fails you can always try to jump straight to adamantine for your armor needs.

My last fortress was drowning in coal and iron, but I haven't found either in the current one.  It has a volcano though, so I don't need to the coal for the furnaces.  Everything's igneous below the soil layer, as I'd expect in a volcanic area.  Lots of copper but no tin yet.  Aluminum and platinum all over too, so it's going to be pretty wealthy. 

[FleshForge]

I actually don't think I've seen a map so far with no iron at all, although sometimes I do get them where the iron is several layers down.

[thijser]

I'm currently playing without iron either. I found that the bigest problem is getting magma  save metals. However this was quickly overcome after the first invasion. Just use cage traps and then a drowning room to get rid of the goblins. They will bring iron and all will be well.

[Alastar]

I haven't yet had a fort where both iron and copper were painfully scarce. Buying a decent amount of cassiterite and a tiny bit of copper ore at embark prevents such worries for a very reasonable cost.