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[Iron Bird]

Hello guys,

In my new fortress I was digging, hoping to find some Flux and Magnetite, hemotite or Limotite.
I soon encountered Chalk, so I was just after some Iron. But now I've dug in three sedimentary  layers, but no sign of Iron.
How can I make sure that I find Iron?

PS: Yes, I'm a newb, in case you hadn't figured out.
And it's kinda ironic, don't you think? Iron bird looking for Iron...

[kalida99]

Looks like iron is giving you...

The bird...

YEAAAAHHHH

Enough silliness...
There probably isn't any full proof way without cheating.
Could always make Hematite a layer stone that occurs in all layers. other than that, dig deeper.

[Lectorog]

If you want to make sure you find iron, gen a new world, with mineral scarcity set to everywhere. You'll likely get some iron on most embarks.

There are also certain places to embark where you can find more iron (specific biomes, ground layers, etc.) but that can get pretty complicated. High mineral frequency is the easiest way to find ores.

That, and embarking on mountains. You can find almost everything there.

[Sutremaine]

What did it say in the site finder about the metal situation? If it was Deep Metal or Shallow Metal, then you have one kind of ore in each part of that biome. If it said Deep Metals or Shallow Metals, then you probably have two kinds of ore. Alternatively, what metal ores have you found so far and how many biomes does the site have? (Biomes are different sorts of terrain. Sometimes they can look similar and have the same stone types, but the difference between mountain / grassland / swamp / tundra is pretty clear.)

[eataTREE]

Unfortunately there is no 100% guaranteed way to make sure that iron ore will be present. You're doing the right thing by looking for it in sedimentary layers, and if you do find it you'll be able to use all that chalk to make the iron into steel.

If all else fails, you can melt down the iron gear of fallen goblin soldiers into iron bars that you can use. (You can do this most easily on the stocks screen.) This method of obtaining iron is known around here as goblinite, the fourth ore of iron.

If you have both copper and tin you can make bronze, which is not quite as good as iron but probably good enough. If you have no tin, only copper and/or silver, make blunt weapons like maces and warhammers because those are not less effective for being made of "worse" metal. If you don't even have that, you can still make crossbows and ammo from wood and bones.

[Reverie]

Looks like iron is giving you...

The bird...

YEAAAAHHHH

That was puntastic! Now the handprint on my face is back, and I have you to thank for it...

[Berserkenstein]

Magnetite is what you want, its the only iron ore that is found in large clusters.  I usually find lots of magnetite in limestone, chalk and dolomite.  But don't overlook bronze, it is only slightly less effective than bronze, but for shields and blunt weapons, bronze is better.

[RAKninja]

If all else fails, you can melt down the iron gear of fallen goblin soldiers into iron bars that you can use. (You can do this most easily on the stocks screen.) This method of obtaining iron is known around here as goblinite, the fourth ore of iron.

unless, like me, your goblin civs do not have iron.  mine only come with copper and silver, and i have plenty of that stuff.

[_DivideByZero_]

Try staying far away from volcanos. Oceans tend to have some sedimentary stone but that often has aquifers. Volcanos guarantee no sedimentary stone if your map has only one biome, and even then it's rare to have a volcano and sedimentary stone at the same time. Sedimentary stone, however, can contain all three ores of iron, including limonite and magnetite, which only occur in sedimentary stone. Volcanoes may have igneous extrusive stone, which has a chance of giving hematite, but still, hematite also occurs in sedimentary stone.