I wouldn't mind having this, because really all the stone types aren't super realistic
anyway.
I could imagine the list of stones looking like
- Stone
- <Metal> Ore (Like 'iron' instead of magnetite)
- Flux Stone
- Coal
Maybe three gem qualities. Common Gem, Uncommon Gem, Rare Gem.
If nothing else forts would look nice and clean without all the random colors everywhere.
EDIT:
Alright, I actually tried doing this, just for stone. Ended up with 'stone', 'flux stone', 'obsidian', 'coal', 'gypsum', 'slade', and one ore for each non-alloy metal (iron, gold, silver, nickel, copper, tin, zinc, platinum, aluminum, and adamantine, I think. Of course, some are native, not ore).
Then there are three types of gems, common, uncommon, and rare.
Would you want alloys simplified as well? Plants? Trees? Animals? If it's supposed to be newb friendly, maybe get rid of cats :V
Although, having only one type of stone layer makes it do weird things at worldgen. Like, EVERYWHERE is aquifer, period. Would you want four stone types, named 'sedimentary', 'igneous intrusive', 'igneous extrusive', and 'metamorphic'? Do you think worldgen needs more than that to effectively generate varied terrain?
Can anyone think of shorter, more casual names for those four types? 'Sedimentary Stone Cabinet' is a little unwieldy. Maybe just four types of stone that all share the same name, but contain different ores?