The whole geology of dwarf fortress I think would have fascinated my dad - he was a geologist by trade, and sparked an interest in it in me at a young age; its one of the things that drew me to DF. Sadly I never got the opportunity to share the game with him
Modern fandoms: "Snape kills Dumbledore!" -the book hasn't been released yet DF fandom: "I won't say what lies deep, I don't want to reveal spoilers!" -the game has existed in a complete state for nearly 20 years and the opening cinematic contains said spoilers
@@dawnfire82 the point that typical fandoms are spoiled nearly instantly while DF has been trying to keep it's end game spoiler free for nearly 20 years? If you say so 🤷
Very helpful, you can actually play around with the world generation settings and the way it generates the layers on the map. I was able to get a volcano spawn which had a decent soil layer, an aquifer, and also flux stones. Because typically sedimentary layers dont exist around active volcanoes, but with some tinkering it can be done. This video really helps with understanding which layers are important and why. Thanks so much as always!
Wow, you're lucky. I've been trying to generate a volcano with an aquifer for hours, all the options presented to me either had flux stone or an aquifer, but never both. I ended up increasing my embark zone to include a river.
What were your settings? Also how do I tweak the settings for more volcanoes? anytime I mess with minimum Volcanism and mesh range it never seems to have an impact
@@Jacob-sb3su I am at work right now, but when I get home I'll give you some info. Edit: I put a link in the post below, you might find it helpful. There is also a setting for minimum volcanoes generated. Obviously if you bump that up it will gen more per map, but if you try to add too many and have settings which are too incompatible it will fail to gen a world. So you have to experiment.
note on igneous extrusive areas: while you'll need to use wood to make charcoal for it, you *can* make steel, as erratics of marble are surprisingly common, as is hematite. Also, "erratic" is the actual geology term for relatively small clusters of stones that form under very different conditions than the surrounding rock. such as pockets of marble in an igneous extrusive region, pockets of an igneous intrusive rock in a sedimentary region, etc.
Watching your videos have been extremely informative. They have also been the reason I've reatarted my forts so many times 😂. If I'm getting better and smarter with each restart, though, I think it's a good thing.
love these longer form tutorials, I mean i like the short ones too but my nerd ass loves to hear the what and why and how the systems work in detail. You, Blind and Twisted Logic are the best Dwarf Fortress sources .
Found a good layer for myself, the first 5 layers are Basalt (magma-proof), followed by 5 layers of Obsidian and at the 11th floor (counting from the surface), there are 5 layers of Marble. Im wetting myself. Digging deeper, i got: 4 Layers Granite, 3 Layers Schist (Gems!) Oh boy, im beyond wet.
But where can I find malachite? Or X ore? It's understandable the vid's iron & coal-focused but there's all the other minerals to consider, especially when someone wants just the right color.
None of these were that easy to summarize. I could dive very deep and explain every typical dominant stone type of each stone layer but that would make a very long video. Casue technically every stone type has a bias to include some metals more often/less often but the info density was mindblowing so I decided to condense down. I do consider to make a specific "Where to find which metal best" video at some point in the future!
I like to stagger them to make sure I can seal off a part of the mines easier. And to avoid that one slipping dwarf falls down 15 Z-Levels cause the staircase is that deep.
Do biomes have different stone layers? If so, do the stone layers change underground if you have different biomes above ground and is the transition zone between biomes in the same general location?
Yes, and yes. Every biome has it's own composition of stone layers, so having a biome border on your embarkation site is actually a really good thing, cause it will increase the variety of stuff to work with.
I think you kinda didn't warn people enough on how much harder it is to equip a military on starts without sedimentary layers, I'm about to abandon one fort because it just isn't fun dealing with such scarcity without abusing some mechanics. Not worth it having magma at Z -13 when every single piece of coal comes from wood, there's barely any iron ore, no tin to make bronze and marble is your only source of flux stone. You become too vulnerable against early enemy attacks or wild animals.
The igneous extrusive region can contain some better gems - in my current embark for example, I have found a *ton* of amethyst (listed as semi-precious, but my appraiser is telling me that they're base value is around 100, and my carved ones are 400+) anda decent amount of precious fire opal as well. (as an aside, amethyst is my birthstone and also my fave gem, so a bit biased!). my embark is kinda strange.. im not near a volcano, but I have a lot of obsidian right up at the surface. the hills are a mix of sand and obsidian, then I have layers of sand and clay, and then back to obsidian plus quartzite. Sadly I havent found flux, but I think that might be on the other side of the river that bisects my map area (when I selected my location, the river was where 2 biomes met). its been a fun map, one of my fave in quite awhile, aside from struggling to find flux. Cool river that I bridged, a hillside where I dug out a huge obsidian mine then turned it into my trade area, two temples and a tavern. I was going to try and do a largely above-ground fort but eventually that evolved into largely below ground, but even still Im enjoying it.
They were historically considered a precious gem until sometime in the 1800s, hence why they’re so valuable in the game. Aluminum being one of the most valuable metals is also a throwback I really enjoyed about this game 😊
That's what the Wikipedia said as well. I haven't embarked on too many volcanoes yet, and the one I did embark on I had literally zero clue about Rock Layers yet.
@@josephmonsue1218 It's mostly a hardware issue. I run this thing (50 bucks by the way) with a lot of gain, cause without I come out super low. If I add damping things again, the recording becomes stuttery and even worse. I've tried around a lot. I'd either dampen out the room or buy me a proper microphone ^^ And I've got my sights on a professional one for Podcasters, will hit town by the end of this month and I'm so looking forward to it myself ^^
I'm listening to Ic0n through my deck on my Sennheiser HD 800S headset with a cable set by Moon Audio... Last thing on my mind is to comment about audio quality. Whenever I go on TH-cam, the sound quality is a dumpster fire that causes my ears to bleed with even the best that TH-cam has to offer when compared to FLAC and WAV audio. I appreciate Ic0ns content, glad he is getting new hardware.
The picture in the thumbnail should be on screen basically this whole video. Its the perfect way to visualize half of what you are saying.
The whole geology of dwarf fortress I think would have fascinated my dad - he was a geologist by trade, and sparked an interest in it in me at a young age; its one of the things that drew me to DF. Sadly I never got the opportunity to share the game with him
Modern fandoms: "Snape kills Dumbledore!" -the book hasn't been released yet
DF fandom: "I won't say what lies deep, I don't want to reveal spoilers!"
-the game has existed in a complete state for nearly 20 years and the opening cinematic contains said spoilers
lmao "complete state for 20 years" - tell me you're new without telling me you're new
@@Z4KJ0N3S nearly ≠ exactly, tell me you selectively read to argue internet jokes without telling me you blah blah blah
@@TacticalYeti20 Yeah, you missed his point.
@@dawnfire82 the point that typical fandoms are spoiled nearly instantly while DF has been trying to keep it's end game spoiler free for nearly 20 years? If you say so 🤷
Modern fandoms: The BEST BUILD to WIN RANKED in 2024
DF fandom: Introduction to Sedimentation and Stratigraphy
Very helpful, you can actually play around with the world generation settings and the way it generates the layers on the map. I was able to get a volcano spawn which had a decent soil layer, an aquifer, and also flux stones. Because typically sedimentary layers dont exist around active volcanoes, but with some tinkering it can be done. This video really helps with understanding which layers are important and why. Thanks so much as always!
Wow, you're lucky. I've been trying to generate a volcano with an aquifer for hours, all the options presented to me either had flux stone or an aquifer, but never both. I ended up increasing my embark zone to include a river.
What were your settings? Also how do I tweak the settings for more volcanoes? anytime I mess with minimum Volcanism and mesh range it never seems to have an impact
@@Jacob-sb3su I am at work right now, but when I get home I'll give you some info. Edit: I put a link in the post below, you might find it helpful. There is also a setting for minimum volcanoes generated. Obviously if you bump that up it will gen more per map, but if you try to add too many and have settings which are too incompatible it will fail to gen a world. So you have to experiment.
@@chellybub I can't seem to find the post you are referring to, could you repost the link ?
@@chellybub hope you can expand more on your settings friend, i cannot find the link
note on igneous extrusive areas: while you'll need to use wood to make charcoal for it, you *can* make steel, as erratics of marble are surprisingly common, as is hematite.
Also, "erratic" is the actual geology term for relatively small clusters of stones that form under very different conditions than the surrounding rock. such as pockets of marble in an igneous extrusive region, pockets of an igneous intrusive rock in a sedimentary region, etc.
Watching your videos have been extremely informative. They have also been the reason I've reatarted my forts so many times 😂. If I'm getting better and smarter with each restart, though, I think it's a good thing.
Here I am, still returning to your videos bit by bit to learn. This game just has so much to it.
love these longer form tutorials, I mean i like the short ones too but my nerd ass loves to hear the what and why and how the systems work in detail. You, Blind and Twisted Logic are the best Dwarf Fortress sources .
Found a good layer for myself, the first 5 layers are Basalt (magma-proof), followed by 5 layers of Obsidian and at the 11th floor (counting from the surface), there are 5 layers of Marble. Im wetting myself.
Digging deeper, i got: 4 Layers Granite, 3 Layers Schist (Gems!) Oh boy, im beyond wet.
Absolutely soaked, just dripping
I really love your videos because they are clear, concise and well structured. Thanks!
Just started the game your videos are easy to understand and super helpful thanks for helping us new miners
I'm so glad to hear that. Especially this topic gave me quite some headache to make it as nicely understandable as possible ^^
But where can I find malachite? Or X ore? It's understandable the vid's iron & coal-focused but there's all the other minerals to consider, especially when someone wants just the right color.
None of these were that easy to summarize. I could dive very deep and explain every typical dominant stone type of each stone layer but that would make a very long video. Casue technically every stone type has a bias to include some metals more often/less often but the info density was mindblowing so I decided to condense down.
I do consider to make a specific "Where to find which metal best" video at some point in the future!
@@Ic0nGaming i ... need these info =D !!!!
This might be a dumb question but why did you do your stairs the way you did?
I like to stagger them to make sure I can seal off a part of the mines easier. And to avoid that one slipping dwarf falls down 15 Z-Levels cause the staircase is that deep.
@@Ic0nGaming haha thanks for clarifying! (did not know that could happen)
@@leablade I also learned that myself from other commenters. The comment section under the videos is really amazingly helpful ^^
I love your videos, your voice and tips are so cool, thank you!
Do biomes have different stone layers? If so, do the stone layers change underground if you have different biomes above ground and is the transition zone between biomes in the same general location?
Yes, and yes. Every biome has it's own composition of stone layers, so having a biome border on your embarkation site is actually a really good thing, cause it will increase the variety of stuff to work with.
Gneiss video, you rock!
It's the schist!
I think you kinda didn't warn people enough on how much harder it is to equip a military on starts without sedimentary layers, I'm about to abandon one fort because it just isn't fun dealing with such scarcity without abusing some mechanics. Not worth it having magma at Z -13 when every single piece of coal comes from wood, there's barely any iron ore, no tin to make bronze and marble is your only source of flux stone. You become too vulnerable against early enemy attacks or wild animals.
Very helpful info! Thanks!
Where would I find flux stones in a volcano
Nevermind
The igneous extrusive region can contain some better gems - in my current embark for example, I have found a *ton* of amethyst (listed as semi-precious, but my appraiser is telling me that they're base value is around 100, and my carved ones are 400+) anda decent amount of precious fire opal as well. (as an aside, amethyst is my birthstone and also my fave gem, so a bit biased!).
my embark is kinda strange.. im not near a volcano, but I have a lot of obsidian right up at the surface. the hills are a mix of sand and obsidian, then I have layers of sand and clay, and then back to obsidian plus quartzite. Sadly I havent found flux, but I think that might be on the other side of the river that bisects my map area (when I selected my location, the river was where 2 biomes met).
its been a fun map, one of my fave in quite awhile, aside from struggling to find flux. Cool river that I bridged, a hillside where I dug out a huge obsidian mine then turned it into my trade area, two temples and a tavern. I was going to try and do a largely above-ground fort but eventually that evolved into largely below ground, but even still Im enjoying it.
Amethyst is my favorite Crystal gem.
They were historically considered a precious gem until sometime in the 1800s, hence why they’re so valuable in the game. Aluminum being one of the most valuable metals is also a throwback I really enjoyed about this game 😊
occasionally you can find volcanos with sedimentary rock. At least in legacy. It was hard to find though.
That's what the Wikipedia said as well. I haven't embarked on too many volcanoes yet, and the one I did embark on I had literally zero clue about Rock Layers yet.
Fun and educational
Ah yes, a refresher on geology class.
0:00 GENERAL IC0N
I feel like this should've been an infographic and not 13 minutes.
Go check out the Wikipedia, there you get the intel in textform!
So make it, dummy.
Its too bad I cant hear a damn thing you say in your videos. Holy crap
I understand him just fine. Perhaps you could turn up the volume?
PLEASE get a proper microphone :(
I've seen dozens of channels with below 1k subs with a waaay better audio quality
Lucky for you I'm upgrading this month!
tbh its not the mic its just the echo, a little sound damping would go a long way
@@josephmonsue1218 It's mostly a hardware issue. I run this thing (50 bucks by the way) with a lot of gain, cause without I come out super low. If I add damping things again, the recording becomes stuttery and even worse.
I've tried around a lot. I'd either dampen out the room or buy me a proper microphone ^^ And I've got my sights on a professional one for Podcasters, will hit town by the end of this month and I'm so looking forward to it myself ^^
I'm listening to Ic0n through my deck on my Sennheiser HD 800S headset with a cable set by Moon Audio... Last thing on my mind is to comment about audio quality. Whenever I go on TH-cam, the sound quality is a dumpster fire that causes my ears to bleed with even the best that TH-cam has to offer when compared to FLAC and WAV audio. I appreciate Ic0ns content, glad he is getting new hardware.
@@edwhite5535As a Sennheiser lover I still find your comment pretty cringe, ngl
inb4 you come back with "no u"