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[Telgin]

So I'm having a lot of trouble finding flux stone on this embark.  I could have sworn it was listed in the embark info, but maybe I'm just crazy.

I have a lot of magnetite, and I'd love to get some steel for my soldiers, but having no flux is preventing that.  I've done some exploratory mining hoping to find some flux stone, but so far haven't turned up any.

I've tried reading the wiki, but it's not being a lot of help here.  The magnetite I have is all embedded in layers of shale, and below the shale is gabbro.  I've dug down quite deep, eventually breaching two cavern layers, looking for some sort of flux stone, but so far no dice.

The wiki claims that marble "forms entire layers".  Does that mean that it takes up entire z-levels, or that it just occurs in large slabs and not just veins?  In other words, should I keep digging around on the z-levels of shale looking for marble (or some other flux stone)?  Would it do me any good to keep digging down, or do sedimentary layers only form at high z-levels?

Similarly, what about bituminous coal?  According to the wiki, coal occurs in sedimentary layers, but I haven't seen any on this embark.  Presumably it could occur in the shale layers too, right?  Guessing I just got unlucky and don't have any coal on the map, which is at least acceptable since I do have plenty of trees for charcoal.

And in the end, if I did just imagine the flux on embark screen and there is none, are iron weapons and armor that much worse than steel?

[Urist Imiknorris]

Marble is a layer stone. It takes up entire z-levels, not including the minerals found in it.

Sedimentary layers only occur at the highest stone layer (in your case, shale, which is sedimentary).

Bituminous coal is found in veins. The wiki has a good article on exploratory mining.

Iron is acceptable for combat purposes. You could always use marksdwarves with iron bolts.

[Telgin]

Ok, so is there any chance that there actually is any flux on this map then?  I have 2 or 3 layers of shale, which would be my only sedimentary layers then.  Unless I'm misremembering, flux is pretty much only found in sedimentary layers, right?

I must have completely imagined that there was flux at this embark.  Guess it's time to start pumping out iron gear.  At least until I can get to adamantine.

[Urist Imiknorris]

There are five flux stones: Limestone, chalk, dolomite, marble, and calcite. The first three are sedimentary layer stones, marble is a metamorphic layer stone (and can thus be found pretty much anywhere if you're lucky), and calcite is found in small clusters in limestone and marble layers.

The site finder is somewhat notorious for lying about flux, but I haven't had any problems with it. Have you reached the magma sea or semi-molten rock yet? If not, there's still a chance. Does your embark have multiple biomes? They can have different stone layers.

[Psieye]

What is the mineral scarcity setting of your world? Coal is considered a "mineral" so these days it is direly rare to ever see any naturally. If you do see it, you'll be drowning in it, but that'll be rare unless you set the scarcity to extremely low.

[Vercingetorix]

My guess is there some marble hidden somewhere deep down.  Sometimes it spills over on the edges of the map (I've seen this on maps that supposedly don't have any flux).

[restricted]

Install DFHack

run "prospect all"

See if there are any flux stones on that. If there are none, embark finder lied. If there is, you just didn't look hard enough.

If you think DFHack is cheating, then boo. Just remove the files when you're done.

[Telgin]

Yeah, I'd prefer to avoid DFHack.  Maybe if I get desperate, heh.

I haven't dug down to the magma sea yet, so maybe there is some marble to be found.  If I do happen to find marble, will it cover the entire z-layer, or most of it?  Wondering if I should spend time actually doing exploratory mining on a z-level if I don't see marble immediately.

Only one biome, so there goes that option.

Guess I just have no coal, which isn't surprising.  I got unbelievably lucky on my first embark: I had hematite, coal and marble all very easily accessible.  Just spoiled me I suppose.

[Teneb]

Strangely enough, in nearly all my embarks I am swimming in lignite and coal. Guess that's just me. Been a while since I last saw bauxite.

[Buttery_Mess]

Marble occurs in layers if memory serves, but it also appears in large veins or clusters within a layer. IMS the flux that shows up in the location finder only shows that a vein or cluster of marble exists; it ignores layers for some reason. It can be hard to find, and deep down. There may not be enough for your needs.

[Nan]

Marbe generally occurs in massive un-missable layers around 5 z-layers thick which span the entire map. It can be found at any depth, from the tops of mountains down to the magma sea.

Even if you don't have any flux stone on your map, if you order all the flux stone, steel bars, pig iron bars and steel anvils from the dwarvern caraven you'll have enough steel to equip everyone with steel weapons and a bit of steel armor.

[Telgin]

Yeah, I was hoping to avoid having to requisition the stuff from the liaison every year, but I did just that just to be safe.  I'll keep digging, maybe I'll get lucky and not let something unspeakable out of the caverns in the process.

[Blue_Dwarf]

Install DFHack

run "prospect all"

See if there are any flux stones on that. If there are none, embark finder lied. If there is, you just didn't look hard enough.

If you think DFHack is cheating, then boo. Just remove the files when you're done.

That one doesn't always show flux stones either

Prospector, on the other hand is much more reliable and has a convenient interface, and doesn't need installing/uninstalling

[Garath]

I'm on my 2nd embark from about 10 now, after i mastered not dieing after 2 years to ambush, titan or tantrum, where i actually have iron, before that, only tetrahedrite and galena. Lucky me i also have 5 layers of limestone. To complete it, i have 4 layers of quartzite for magma safe construction

thats 2 out of 10 that had iron, 1 even had flux, even though no flux was announced

[krisslanza]

Install DFHack

run "prospect all"

See if there are any flux stones on that. If there are none, embark finder lied. If there is, you just didn't look hard enough.

If you think DFHack is cheating, then boo. Just remove the files when you're done.

That one doesn't always show flux stones either

Prospector, on the other hand is much more reliable and has a convenient interface, and doesn't need installing/uninstalling

At least for my copy of Prospector, you need to DFReveal for it to work as it'll only prospect the visible layers of the map. I usually just embark, reveal, prospect, then unreveal it without actually looking around.