I do not think anyone in 15 th century would have detailed core samples for every county in the world. The estimates like "there was some fulx found in the area", or "some surface ores were spotted "are much more realistic.
This has been discussed at length in other threads. Basically, you have two sides to the discussion. One argues that dwarves are miners by nature and have been striking the earth and making their living underground for untold generations. So they would have a much more intimate knowledge of geology, minerals and metals than 15th century humans. (Their kinship with the earth is so close one could almost call it supernatural.) Also, they're the only race to make steel. Considering the stats of steel in the raws and how long they've been making it, dwarven steel is probably
nearly equivalent to modern steel.
Also the abuntance of mineral has been FINALLY toned down.
Not everyone saw that as a problem. I seem to recall reading a claim that this camp was a minority. Anyway, I think nearly everyone will agree that in .19 this has been taken to the
extreme.
Keep in mind that this is first of the long chain of releases that upgrades the trading system. I am sure we will get a way to order large amounts of specific stones and ores in time.
You have a point. However, in the meanwhile, this scarcity (particularly of iron and copper) can make it very difficult to defend one's fortress. (At least, that's what I got from reading the
Missing Metals thread.)
I really don't understand people who would want to find marble on every fort they found. What is the point of building more than 1 fort then, if they are all going to be same, build from same materials.
That is a good argument for
some scarcity in minerals and stones. But still,
metals are
far too rare.
We will have to work with local materials and trade for the rest. Pottery covers a huge portion of almost all the crucial and essential crafts that are needed to run even a basic fort. Remember that even iron ore used to be precious and valuable resource. Places that had it were wealthy and fought over throughout the history.
It will make things interesting. And different. I also see the direction of these changes as a
good thing in the long run. But I hope to see more INIT options. And I think I'll stick with .18 for a while.