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[Itsapaul]

Literally as I clicked new topic my guys ran into copper ore, but what do you do if you want metal by mining now?  I turned minerals one notch up, but minerals seems like it can mean any number of things.  Is it literally just trial and error for actually mining metal now?

[blue emu]

Is it literally just trial and error for actually mining metal now?

Yes. You can always use DFProspector to scout your embark site, after your wagon arrives at the new fortress site.

[ThirdSpartacus]

Minerals are generally pretty abundant now, if default worldgen settings are used.

Basically use exploratory mining if you want to find a specific metal.
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Exploratory_mining

[Itsapaul]

Minerals are generally pretty abundant now, if default worldgen settings are used.

Basically use exploratory mining if you want to find a specific metal.
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Exploratory_mining

thanks for that link, there's definitely some awesome patterns I'll have to try.  Might skip all the useless gems I accumulate with that too.

[blue emu]

Minerals are generally pretty abundant now, if default worldgen settings are used.

Basically use exploratory mining if you want to find a specific metal.
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Exploratory_mining

thanks for that link, there's definitely some awesome patterns I'll have to try.  Might skip all the useless gems I accumulate with that too.

Useless gems are at least good for training-up your Jeweller's skills.

[Jeoshua]

Since we can't view layer stones before embark, I think it's worthy to explore, a bit, what kinds of areas you can expect to find which kinds of layer stone, as that governs what kind of ore you will find.

Alluvial layers: Found near rivers, in wet climates.  Theres gold in them thar hills, m'boy.  Nearly always found with clay and a decent amount of soil.

Umm.... I got nothin else.  I know how to find gold, tho!

[Nameless Archon]

Literally as I clicked new topic my guys ran into copper ore, but what do you do if you want metal by mining now?  I turned minerals one notch up, but minerals seems like it can mean any number of things.  Is it literally just trial and error for actually mining metal now?

I modded Cobaltite to be an iron ore, then turned mineral availability all the way up - this means I usually have large veins of iron, though I often have to dig deeply for them. For extra grins, I deleted non clay, non sand soils. I use the embark finder to get flux with soil. In this way, almost every site I embark has sand, clay, flux, iron, magma (as do all civs) and all I have to worry about is what other items my civ has, and which sort of terrain/savagery/evil I want.

[ThirdSpartacus]

Minerals are generally pretty abundant now, if default worldgen settings are used.

Basically use exploratory mining if you want to find a specific metal.
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Exploratory_mining

thanks for that link, there's definitely some awesome patterns I'll have to try.  Might skip all the useless gems I accumulate with that too.

Useless gems are at least good for training-up your USELESS Jeweller's skills.

Fixed. 

[Itsapaul]

Oh yeah, you can still use the finder to look for flux... derp.  I mostly was looking for iron when I said "metals" since who cares about non-steel metals before later in the game, so it seems like giving up early when I don't hit any in the first few layers after the soils might be the new plan.  Or you know, using the finder like I forgot about. 

EDIT - I always wait for a jeweller in migrants, I've never bothered leveling it up by itself.  He/she would usually go in the military since not choosing what to encrust is pretty retarded, but there ya go.

[wuphonsreach]

I use a mineral scarcity in the 500-600 range when generating worlds now, it's the only way to stay sane.  I still use DFProspector to check to see whether I at least have *some* ability to make bronze and/or iron.

And the way Toady generates clusters and veins really needs to be reworked / expanded.  I made the mistake once of looking at the map using DFReveal and the pattern used to put in veins is extremely simplistic and nowhere near random enough (so sad).

[freeze]

I tend to use the defaults, so medium world with scarce minerals.

My most often used technique is site finder for multiple shallow/multiple deep sites. Then, I search around the edges of those layers a bit to try to locate embark sites that will combine two+ multi-metal layers. The ideal site for me is flat, has about half the site on top of multi/multi layers, and has at least 2-3 squares each of (hopefully different) deep/shallow ore layers. Seems to get me bronze about 30% of the time and iron about 60%. Bronze+brass+iron+(galena OR gold OR other high value) is rare but I've seen it a couple times.

Still check things out in prospector just to get a rough idea before getting going though.

[Itsapaul]

Good info guys, thanks a lot.  Also, are all iron ores deeper down?  There should be flux on my embark but I've yet to find any; trust me when I say I've torn apart z-levels looking and just find more useless stone (way more of the blue than I ever used to find).  I did have "deep soil" if that matters, but those layers seemed to stop forever ago.

[Niyazov]

Picking a site at the intersection of multiple biomes is another good way to ensure that you'll get ores, since each biome gets its own mineral layers. Iron ore is almost always found immediately beneath soil layers since all three ores appear in sedimentary layers (usually along with bituminous coal or lignite). Hematite also occurs in igneous extrusive layers (andesite, basalt, dacite, rhyolite) which are also close to the surface since (in the real world) they are the result of volcanic activity at some point in the geological past.

tl;dr: Digging deep will not help you to find iron.

As for flux, if you don't have sedimentary or marble layers immediately beneath your fortress, it may be worthwhile to dig deep and towards the edge of the map; if you are on a biome boundary, you can sometimes find marble pockets near the map edge a few layers above the magma sea.

[Psieye]

the way Toady generates clusters and veins really needs to be reworked / expanded.

Toady has his work list up on the dev logs. This is already on the near-future list.

[wuphonsreach]

the way Toady generates clusters and veins really needs to be reworked / expanded.

Toady has his work list up on the dev logs. This is already on the near-future list.

Is that the "3D veins" item?

And yes, embarking on the edge between two or more biomes that each have "shallow metalS" increases your chances that you will end up with at least some iron.  If there are clay (soil?) layers then you might find shallow iron.