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[cory]

I've been away from DF for a while and I'm just coming back.  I noticed that when I select an embark site, I don't get a list of the minerals at the site, instead it just says something like this:

Soil
Shallow Metals
Deep Metals

Previously, I could tell if there was dolomite or limestone or granite.  Did Toady make mention as to why this change happened?  It's really hard to find a location now with bituminous coal or lignite, and so it's hard for me to make enough steel to make armor and weapons to defend against sieges.  Anybody know why and when this happened?

[acetech09]

Real overseers don't use lignite/bitcoal except for cool !!TRAPS!!.

It's pretty easy to get magma forges set up now.

[Keldane]

Real overseers don't use lignite/bitcoal except for cool !!TRAPS!!.

It's pretty easy to get magma forges set up now.

Magma doesn't satisfy the coal requirement of the steel making process.

From what I recall, the change was implemented around the time clay was introduced and mineral scarcity was upped. I seem to remember it having something to do with enhancing the site finder feature, though it has the unfortunate side effect of making knowing what sort of metals you'll find at the site more a matter of guesswork.

[acetech09]

Making underground tree farms and wood burning should satisfy it no problem. Digging out 2 soil layers can churn out a crapton of trees.

[Keldane]

Making underground tree farms and wood burning should satisfy it no problem. Digging out 2 soil layers can churn out a crapton of trees.

Tree farming is a time- and space-consuming process. By comparison, mining out a vein of bituminous coal and turning it into coke takes much fewer resources. =P

Actually, that reminds me of something else worth mentioning - if I'm correct, and the site details change came in at the same time as the change in mineral scarcity, you (cory) may not know that bituminous coal and lignite have become unbelievably rare nowadays. There were quite a few threads dedicated to trying to figure out where it all went shortly after the change.

[cory]

Keldane - thanks for the info.  So what's the best way to make steel now?

[Corneria]

Keldane - thanks for the info.  So what's the best way to make steel now?

Definitely charcoal.

[Girlinhat]

Charcoal for sure.  Tree farms are going to become your friend.  Woodcutters now have some value aside from beds.

These changes happened with .19 when we got mineral scarcity, clay, sheerable animals, animals fighting, and other spam topics that everyone needs to ask about every day because they can't use a search function for "why are my animals fighting/starving?"

If you're using advanced worldgen, or default even, you can set the scarcity to allow for insane mineral density.  At scarcity 100 I sometimes have trouble finding layer stone, there's so much microcline and hematite and coal stuffing the map.

[franti]

I'm never updating from .18
Currently, I'm building a giant above-ground tower out of Coal Blocks.

[Eddren]

What's the point of Microline, anyway?

[Sphalerite]

Microcline is a lovely sky blue color.  It's perfect for making a roof over an outdoor fortress, because then visiting elves and other invaders will look up, think it's the sky, and not realize they're indoors.  Then you open the hatches and drop rabid war bears on them.

[Girlinhat]

Microcline is an amazing tool to make others instantly hate your fortress.  That's why everyone needs to build a megatower out of pure microcline blocks, something so amazing that it's awe-inspiring, yet makes your eyes bleed so hard you have no choice but to hate it.  And do this, only once.  A second time and you're just asking for trouble.

[Corneria]

1. Go to DFMP servers
2. Find nearest supply of microcline
3. Replace random bits of walls/roofs/etc. with microcline

[Girlinhat]

1: Got to DFMP Servers
2: Find a candy vein.
3: Smooth it.
4: Build microcline walls around it.

[plynxis]

i hate microcline because its color is so hideous - its name as well

why do other people hate it?