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[Patchy]

Can't wait till I get home this weekend to dl the new version. I'm totally psyched from what I've been reading in this thread about the metal rarity. Now I don't have to go back to 40d everytime I want a game with less metal, and more importance on exploratory mining. Or looking for sites that are completely metamophic and igneous intrusive all the way down for challenge in 31.x. Getting to steel before in 31.x was way too bloody easy, I've been avoiding sedimentary sites cause of it.

And I can tell you from experience, you do not need steel to survive goblin ambushes/sieges in 31.x without walling up. Build some trap chambers, dodge this traps are nice, flooding chambers (magma or water variety), shooting galleries for marksdwarves(no need for metal with them). Use some war dogs with your troops(bone and leather armed if need be), remember the dogs are to distract and hold while your dwarves kill. You only have to survive the first wave or 2 before you can start making some stuff from goblinite to outfit your squads better.

[_DivideByZero_]

Dolomite, a few layers of magnetite and veins of platinum everywhere. I'm starting to like this.
Plenty of wood too.

[EveryZig]

I have various levels in the first 10 or so z levels... but when I dig further and just find endless rock it feels so empty...

[MarcAFK]

Actually, iron isn't that great anymore. Bronze is better, at least, and copper is surprisingly good for armor for some reason. Unless that changed.

Actually i think iron mostly beats bronze bronze mostly beats iron, BUT, It's a pretty close call : http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=53571.0 iron is better against hammers and maces.

[Rakonas]

Don't really need coal as urgently as we once did.  Why?  Underground trees, that's why.  Elf problems?  Dwarf the f up already.

Also you can find map sites with accessible metal without too much trouble.  They are more rare.  All that means is that there are fewer sites on the world map that make good conventional dwarf settlements.  In most cases you need to start near a mountain in order to get metal.  When you think about it, it makes sense.  All of this business with dwarves starting out on a beach next to a tropical jungle isn't really very in-character for dwarves, is it?

Says you! Dwarves making a seaside fort, with massive glass windows on one side allowing you to gaze into the deep blue? Jungle forts, built like Aztec temples with war elephants? Those are all great!

This is the first time in a LONG time you have been so restricted on where you can go. It used to be that you could embark anywhere (pure mountains and pure oceans notwithstanding) and it would be possible to survive and thrive, albeit with some places being far more difficult than others. Now, the scarcity of metal means that some places are IMPOSSIBLE for you to survive or thrive, unless you literally wall yourselves in.

I don't see how you can justify being straitjacketed to certain sites, just to get metal. Or it being nigh-impossible to get good metal sites on anything smaller than a medium world. Or how people have to suddenly embark with naught but one barrel of ale and a dog because for some reason nobody has copper, meaning they have to use tools that are three times as expensive.

Any site can have metal.
My current site has tons of metal and trees on the coast of the ocean, and I haven't even gone 10 z's down.
It's just that in the current release there's actually a reason why settlements are founded along the lines of, "There's shitloads of gold here, let's dig it up and trade it with the Mountainhome!"
Of course, caravans are still the same, but it's still entirely playable.

[TheyTarget]

So, I'm getting used to it, and start of like building a world based on a trade economy. It makes sense, and I've long survived without using bronze or steel in the majority of my forts. Complex or simple trap designs with intelligently strategy planned and thought out before hand make it work out fine. I'm modding in the ability to make anything from any metal cause I feel there shouldn't be anything stopping me from outfitting dwarfs in silver with rose gold battle axes if I want, and I do want to. When I think of dwarfs I think so incredibly wealthy they can be outfitted in pure gold, shoot gem encrusted pure gold bolts at you, and still have enough gold to buy out half the nation. Maybe we should have some form of free backing from the mountain homes? I mean if this is their only iron mine, they might want to defend it by sending out some troops every once in a while.

[EveryZig]

If you could make anything from any metal, then your platinum and gold war-hammers (gain damage based of weight) will be ridiculously powerful. Hmm... That might be fun to do.

[Psieye]

Can't wait till I get home this weekend to dl the new version. I'm totally psyched from what I've been reading in this thread about the metal rarity. Now I don't have to go back to 40d everytime I want a game with less metal, and more importance on exploratory mining. Or looking for sites that are completely metamophic and igneous intrusive all the way down for challenge in 31.x. Getting to steel before in 31.x was way too bloody easy, I've been avoiding sedimentary sites cause of it.

It's a different kind of scarcity to 40d but yes, you will enjoy the "can't rush to steel tech ASAP" aspect nonetheless. Metal rarity means you have no metal to work with unless you specifically choose to embark where metal has been flagged, and then you only get a few types of metal ever showing up. 40d, while the metals were rare, you were more or less ensured variety.

Oh and it's no concern to my playstyle as I hit the magma sea in the first season of embark, but I've not heard of anyone finding coal anywhere. I've got a home civ that can trade it to me though, so it's still around somewhere - just a total mystery where.

[Morrigi]

I'd just like to know why such a huge game changer is being forced on us when the caravan arc is nowhere near complete. "It's alpha!" doesn't cut it, it was just a bad idea to screw everyone over to the point where there are reports that dwarven civs couldn't even make anvils and the trade system is still no better than it ever was.

[MarcAFK]

because it's alpha, playtest it or stay in .18 for armoks sake.

[kilakan]

huh so I just hit a solid magnetite layer, with a solid chalk layer underneath it, albiet I had to pierce two aquirfers to get there, but still.  I can make steel mountian now.  Also extremely forested with fire clay, I'm loving this site.

[tps12]

I'd just like to know why such a huge game changer is being forced on us when the caravan arc is nowhere near complete. "It's alpha!" doesn't cut it, it was just a bad idea to screw everyone over to the point where there are reports that dwarven civs couldn't even make anvils and the trade system is still no better than it ever was.

I know, I don't know why Toady decided to delete anvils, they were a pretty important part of the game.

[MarcAFK]

They aren't deleted, it's just your civ hasn't discovered iron
maybe we should mod in bronze and nickel anvils just to make this occur less often

[_DivideByZero_]

Does this mean that microcline is gone too?

[tps12]

RIP microline, and picks, and steel...truly a sad day for dwarvenkind.