Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

User talk:AlienChickenPie

2008-03-15T07:05:08Z

AlienChickenPie:

So... is this chicken pie made by aliens, pie made out of alien chickens, pie and alien chicken, alien pie and alien chicken, or three random words? 
Or is it a code for something? The anagrams tend to be the material of disgusting fetishes, it seems. 
Aha! "Alien" is in the original name. It must, therefore, be related to erotic alien abductions. "Chicken" and "Pie" are both part of internet memes. The chicken crosses the road. "i like pie" is a statement of disinterest, implying that the one speaking to he who says it is trolling or just plain annoying. So, hmn. 
<nowiki>*thinks*</nowiki> 
The aliens are offended by humans, and their response is "i like pie." The humans have offended them with pointlessly "crossing a road," or doing a useless but dangerous thing, instead of doing whatever the aliens think humans should do. They note that some extremist aliens have abducted humans and given them experiences that haunt them for the rest of their life, in an assumably futile attempt to punish the humans. Presumably, alien laws exist that prevent them from doing so in more overt methods. 
But... why in a username on a wiki? Are you an alien message, meant to reveal the truth to highly intelligent humans of our type? Why? Questions remain, but, nevertheless, we have gained some greater knowledge about the universe! 
--[[User:Savok|Savok]], 
revealing part of his disturbing mind

Actually, it's a name I thought up when I was nine and the need for an internet nickname became apparent. I use it exclusively for anything I do online that doesn't warrant using my full name, or require a departure from my conventional online identity. It's silly, but it's also unique and consistent.

--[[User:AlienChickenPie|AlienChickenPie]] 03:05, 15 March 2008 (EDT)

User talk:AlienChickenPie

2008-03-15T07:04:21Z

AlienChickenPie:

40d:Magma

2008-03-14T19:45:20Z

AlienChickenPie: Added comparison to water, altered magma vs. built objects

Magma is red-hot molten rock present in [[volcano]]es, as well as magma pools and magma pipes. It serves as an energy source, powering [[magma forge]]s, [[magma glass furnace]]s and [[magma smelter]]s. It is extremely dangerous.

== Finding magma ==

While in previous versions of Dwarf Fortress, every map was guaranteed to have magma, since v0.27.169.32a magma is now a feature of terrain and may or may not be present.

Magma occurs in three different features; Magma pools, Magma Pipes, and [[Volcano|Volcanoes]].

* A Magma Pool is a reservoir of magma that occupies only a few Z-Levels in the mountain, without reaching the surface. Magma Pools can be very small, and may have few suitable locations for buildings that rely on magma. Magma in these pools is limited, and pools will not refill with magma once emptied.

* A Magma Pipe is a reservoir of magma that is connected to the earth's mantle. The magma will start at the lowest z-level, and extend in a pipe shape to its very highest level, which may be visible on the surface, or may be several z-levels underground. Magma Pipes gradually refill with magma.

* A [[Volcano]] is a magma pipe that completely reaches the surface. This gives a volcano that advantage of being a geographical feature that is visible on the [[location]] screen. See the page on volcanoes for more information.

Magma that reaches all the way to the surface (Primarily Magma Pipes and Volcanos) is visible on the "local" screen in the starting location chooser. It is represented as a red ≈ mark (a double tilde) - essentially it looks like red water. Note that red ≈ marks in the "region" screen mean something different entirely (e.g. red sand). However, it IS actually possible for a volcano that shows up on the "local" and region screen in the starting location chooser to be entirely underground - Although you could see it in the starting location chooser, it would not be visible from the surface once your dwarves have arrived at the fort's site.

While picking a starting location, the easiest place to look for magma is on or near a [[volcano]] (a red ^ mark in the "region" screen). There are often volcanic islands (easy to find, since they are the sole land in the middle of oceans), but since sea travel is not yet implemented, trade with other races may not be possible on such islands. Instead, find a volcano on land, and (optionally) start looking for a vent in nearby squares. "Nearby squares" can mean anything from literally on top of the volcano, to adjacent, to quite a long distance away indeed. The placement of magma seems to be related to the distance from volcanoes, but is still essentially random.

Magma vents occur exclusively in world map tiles that are primarily igneous extrusive. That is to say, if you select an entire tile on the embarkation screen and press F1 to highlight the most common terrain, the tile will only have magma if the top stone is dark gray, signifying igneous extrusive rock. Magma does not necessarily form in this geological zone/biome, rather anywhere in the tile. Even if magma is not evident on the surface, it's almost certain to be underground somewhere, though the chances of finding it without reveal.exe are still slim.

Much harder than simply finding a magma vent is finding a magma vent that is also near suitable terrain for building. Depending on your requirements - you may be looking for a source of running water, or a mountain for minerals, or a healthy tree population, or even all three - suitable building sites can be extremely scarce.

Since volcanoes show up on the region finder, and magma vents do not, you may find it easier to simply check all volcanoes on a map for suitability, and generate a new world if none are suitable, rather than scouring tile after tile for magma vents.

If you're willing to search exhaustively, you might want to consider finding magma vents that are not near volcanoes at all. Very occasionally, magma will be visible in the middle of forests, plains, or other terrain nowhere near a volcano or even mountains. There is no way to spot these on the region map, so the only way to identify them is to scroll past hundreds of local maps while keeping an eye out for the distinctive red ≈ symbol.

You can also occasionally find magma that does not extend all the way to the surface, and therefore is not visible on the local map. These are in fact much more numerous than surface-visible magma vents; however, they are almost impossible to find without cheating via one of the [[utilities]] like "reveal.exe", since unlike proper magma vents these smaller deposits must be almost literally mined into to see (you will get a warning about "warm stone" before you actually breach the deposit). These smaller magma deposits appear in the same places as normal magma vents - near volcanoes, or, failing that, near other known magma.

== Using magma ==

On a map with a magma vent, the magma will be clearly visible from every level ground and below, unless the map is in a Freezing area. In Freezing areas, the top few levels of the vent will have cooled to form an obsidian "cap". This should still be readily recognizable however, as it will comprise a circular area. The minerals directly adjacent to the magma vent will also be immediately visible, even at the lowest level of the map, which can give some hints about where to prospect for ores.

The vent has a similar, circular shape on each level. However, it is not identical from one level to the next; some levels will have a larger or somewhat misshapen circle of magma.

The primary use for magma is to power [[magma smelter]]s, [[magma glass furnace]]s and [[magma forge]]s. (There are other uses, including defense and possibly even garbage disposal.) To build forges, etc. on magma, at least one of the external eight squares must be above a square of magma.

This can be done most easily by simply building on ground level. The magma is visible from ground level but is actually contained one level below ground level, just like any ground-level water source.

To build underground, you will need to dig at least one tile of a [[channel]] above the location you wish to build the smelter or forge. Underneath this channel there must be magma, either directly from the vent or channeled from the vent. You can simply build a tunnel straight into the magma, or use channels to tap into the magma on the level below safely - this latter is easier if there is more magma on the lower level than the level on which you wish to build. Tapping into magma directly is quite safe, provided that you are prepared for it. Magma is much slower than water, and can be stopped by a simple floodgate.

Volcanoes and magma tubes slowly replenish their supply of magma{{version|0.27.176.38a}}.

==Magma compared to water==

Magma is a chunky liquid. As such, it acts like water in certain circumstances, but acts differently in others.

===Similarities===

*Magma fills a tile and has seven possible depths.

*Magma flows outward and downward to expand into clear space.

*Screw pumps work in magma.

*Floodgates and pressure plates {{verify}} work in magma.

*Constructed walls of all kinds safely contain magma.

*Objects thrown into magma sink to the bottom.

===Differences===

*Magma is extremely hot, and capable of melting objects and constructions made of most materials (see [[Magma#Magma vs. Built Objects|Magma vs. Built Objects]]) and thus destroying them.

*Magma is never pressurized {{verify}}, it seeps out of holes slower than water and slow enough for any dwarves to outrun, unless they are the ones digging into it.

*Magma never flows up. Its level may rise only by dripping more magma from above, and new magma may only distribute itself by moving down or to the sides, but never up.

*Magma reacts violently with water, releasing steam and, depending on the amount of magma, leaving behind tiles of solid obsidian which can be mined, smoothed or engraved like any natural tile.

*Magma is not a water source. Dwarves can't drink it or supply it to their wounded.

== Magma vs. Built Objects ==

Some objects that come in contact with magma will function fine, no matter what their material. Others will melt or cease to work properly unless they're made of [[magma-safe materials]].

* Workshops that are powered by magma need not be built of magma-safe materials to function.

* Constructed walls of any material, even those that are not "Magma-safe", will hold magma in without issues.

* Bridges that are built over magma may be constructed of any material. However, bridges that are submerged in magma must be constructed of a magma-safe material.

* Most machines must be made of [[magma-safe materials]] to function in magma. This includes Floodgates and Screw Pumps.

* Stone mechanisms attached to a construction will melt in magma unless made of bauxite or raw adamantine, even if the construction itself is made of steel. In addition, if the mechanisms melt off of a floodgate, the floodgate will cease to be "constructed" and become an unplaced item again.{{version|0.27.176.38a}} At this point, the magma will flow over it freely.

== Temperature settings ==

Magma is almost harmless if temperature is disabled in the Dwarf Fortress init file. It can still trap and suffocate or simply starve your dwarves in some situations. It will not melt bridges, etc. constructed of non-[[magma-proof]] materials.

== Magma reactions ==

*Water: If magma happens to contact water it produces some steam and obsidian. This means there is no chance of using a prolonged contact between the two to create a steam trap.
*Rocks: [[stone|Rock]]s left over from mining will melt if magma covers them.
*Speed: Magma moves relatively slowly. While it is impossible to try to seal off water let loose, magma is slow enough for your dwarves to build a floodgate or door, or even wall off the flooding area, if you happen to let magma loose by mistake.

[[Category:Physics]]

40d:Exploratory mining

2008-03-14T18:41:38Z

AlienChickenPie: /* Patterns */ Diagonal moved up next to the other thorough layouts, minor fix to the 7X7 pattern

Exploratory mining is the process of mining large areas in order to obtain resources such as [[gems]], [[metal]] [[ores]] and other types of [[stone|rock]]. It is also used, to a lesser extent, to find the locations of hidden underground features such as [[chasm]]s, [[underground river]]s, [[magma]] and [[adamantine]].
The most straightforward method is to mark a large rectangular area for digging. Unfortunately, this method is also the least efficient. More efficient digging patterns involve digging out a smaller percentage of the stone in a given area, but still revealing a large percentage of the stone. These patterns are compromises, which depend on factors that will be described in this article.
Note that exploratory mining is the process dedicated solely to discovery of resources and features. The digging process is usually separated, and not discussed here in great detail.
The [[cheating]] counterpart to exploratory mining is the infamous [[utilities#reveal.exe|reveal]] tool.

== Factors in exploratory mining ==

These are the factors we shall consider for each digging pattern. Knowing them and deciding on their priority will help you find the most suitable pattern.
Most of the factors are represented by numbers, obtained by dividing two quantities. Others are more subjective.

=== Labor ===

''Labor'' is the amount of work that goes into the digging process. Exploratory mining is a work intensive process, capable of straining even a large fortress, but the work that goes into different patterns varies greatly. A fortress with a large supply of skilled miners can afford to consider labor low priority. The labor factor is the fraction of stone dug out of an area, and as such, it's a percentage, between 0 and 100%.

=== Scarcity ===

''Scarcity'' is the amount of desired material present in the rock layer. It's theoretically represented by the fraction of desired material in the soil layer, but one can seldom state it accurately or even estimate it. Scarcity is determined by the types of materials you're after. Single tiles are the scarcest, followed by small clusters, veins and large clusters. For the classification of your desired material, see the [[gem]] and [[stone]] articles. Underground features are about as scarce as large clusters.

=== Visibility ===

''Visibility'' is the amount of tiles that you reveal in the digging process. Excavated tiles are always visible, and so are the tiles immadiately adjacent to them, including diagonals. The purpose of exploratory mining is to make a single tile of the desired material visible, allowing you to switch to conventional digging and extract it. Visibility is represented by the fraction of visible tiles in the excavated area. Visibility is always a priority, but it tends to decrease in priority as scarcity decreases, because there are more tiles that need to be dug out, and not just seen.

=== Reusability ===

Exploratory mining leaves behind a monotonous, repeating landscape. The excavated level may be hard to reuse for habitation, storage or industry without additional digging and significant rebuilding efforts that leave behind inferior walls that cannot be engraved. Reusability is subjective, and it depends on the desired layout. Reusability is represented by the largest room size achievable by digging into the solid rock left behind without rebuilding any walls. Reusability is a priority for a small fortress.

== Patterns ==

Patterns are represented by a unit tile. This unit tile is repeated throughout the area intended for excavation to create the desired pattern. Each pattern is analyzed with the above factors in mind.

Key:
░ = Not mined, not visible
▒ = Not mined, visible (wall)
. = Mined (floor)

=== Hollow ===

All tiles are excavated.

* ''Labor'': 100% of the tiles are excavated. 
* ''Scarcity'': Any scarcity. It it exists in the layer, it will be found. 
* ''Visibility'': 100% of the tiles are visible, obviously. 
* ''Reusability'': Approaches zero. Any design other than a large hall requires reconstruction. 
* ''Bottom line'': Hollowing wastes labor like there's no tomorrow, but integrates extraction into the exploratory mining process. Use only if you have a lot of labor to spare, really need huge amounts of stone and don't mind the reconstruction required to make the hollow area habitable.

=== Rows ===
<div style="font-family: monospace; white-space: pre; line-height: 126.5%"><nowiki>
▒▒▒▒▒▒
......
▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒
......
▒▒▒▒▒▒
</nowiki></div>
* ''Labor'': 1/3 (~33%) of the tiles are excavated.
* ''Scarcity'': Any scarcity. Clusters as small as a single tile are revealed. 
* ''Visibility'': 100%.
* ''Reusability'': Very low. The long corridors aren't very useful, and can only be expanded to long, wide corridors.
* ''Bottom line'': This method achieves the same visibility as hollowing out, but using a mere third of the labor. Ideal for hunting single-tile gems. As an added bonus, this method achieves a visibility to labor ratio of 3:1, giving you the (al)most visibility for each tile dug out. In all ways, it it more efficient than a 3×3 design.

=== Diagonal ===
<div style="font-family: monospace; white-space: pre; line-height: 126.5%"><nowiki>
▒▒.▒▒▒▒.▒▒
▒.▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒
.▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒.
▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒.▒
</nowiki></div>
* ''Labor'': 20% of the tiles are excavated.
* ''Scarcity'': Any scarcity. Clusters as small as a single tile are revealed.
* ''Visibility'': 100%.
* ''Reusability'': With a bit of imagination you can build nice 3x3 rooms
* ''Bottom line'': This method is the most efficient for those with 100% visibility but is annoying to designate.

=== 7×7 blocks ===
<div style="font-family: monospace; white-space: pre; line-height: 126.5%"><nowiki>
░░░▒.▒░░░░░▒.▒░░
░░░▒.▒░░░░░▒.▒░░
░░░▒.▒░░░░░▒.▒░░
▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒
................
▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒
░░░▒.▒░░░░░▒.▒░░
░░░▒.▒░░░░░▒.▒░░
</nowiki></div>
* ''Labor'': 15/64 (~23%) of the tiles are excavated.
* ''Scarcity'': Veins and up, as the large 5X5 space left in each unit tile can easily conceal a small cluster.
* ''Visibility'': 34/64 (~53%) of the tiles are visible.
* ''Reusability'': Medium. The 7×7 blocks can easily be converted into 5×5 rooms, suitable for individual rooms, storage or workshops. Easily converted into a more thorough 3×3 block patten by digging through the large blocks.
* ''Bottom line'': This is a low-labor method great for vein-hunting. The low labor cost puts you in a position to invest more and get better covarage if desired.

=== 15×15 blocks ===
<div style="font-family: monospace; white-space: pre; line-height: 126.5%"><nowiki>
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
▒▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
................................
▒▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒.▒░░░░░░░░░
</nowiki></div>
* ''Labor'': 31/256 (~12%) of the tiles are excavated.
* ''Scarcity'': Large clusters and up, as the large 13×13 space left in each unit tile can easily conceal quite a lot.
* ''Visibility'': 89/256 (34%) of the tiles are visible.
* ''Reusability'': High. A 15×15 block of solid rock is extremely versatile when it comes to interior design. It's easily converted into a 7×7 block design, which may be further converted into a 3×3 block design.
* ''Bottom line'': This method is preferable when you are low or labor or when you're after an underground feature. It can easily accommodate parts of your fort, or serve as the precursor for a more thorough search.

[[Category:Guides]]

40d Talk:Exploratory mining

2008-03-14T18:33:08Z

AlienChickenPie:

This is a guide on how to search for valuable materials by mining. 
...why is there any use for it? --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 18:52, 13 March 2008 (EDT)

:I think it's useful. The need for more resources, unless you're extremely lucky in the beginning, is not satisfied by the fort's initial digging efforts or its natural expansion. This usually leads to the need to dig in order to reveal large areas, and more often not, the most intuitive method the player thinks up is not the most efficient for their situation. Mining labor, being pretty scarce even for a medium sized fortress, shouldn't be squandered by using an inefficient method, especially if you want fast results.
:--[[User:AlienChickenPie|AlienChickenPie]] 04:13, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

::Mining labor? Scarce? O.o.
::Grab a few peasant immigrants (or miner immigrants if you get any - they come with picks), get picks for them, and start them mining. If you mine out a significant area (like, "enough that you want more than two miners") you'll have legendary miners within a year.
::But alright. I do agree that efficiency in exploratory mining is useful, since without it you ruin the area and get lots of useless stone. However, I argue that this article states things that should not be in a manual of any sort: We don't tell you how to make your fortress. We tell you what happens when X happens and we tell you what to do to get Y.
::But you still disagree, I assume? Alright. If it really is bad, the article will get deleted/shrunk/merged. If it isn't, we should do it right.
::<nowiki>*brings out the umkey*</nowiki>
::--[[User:Savok|Savok]] 10:18, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

:::I see what you're getting at, it would definitely be wrong to state design tips as facts or tell people how to build their fortress.
:::However, this article is intended to be a technical guide to mining methods, not a style guide. I'd like to make it as neutral and factual as possible.
:::Going over it again, I noticed that parts of it are written inappropriately for a technical article. For example, the usability part definitely steps quite a bit over the line, and I wouldn't mind seeing it removed or altered to contain only necessary facts.
:::--[[User:AlienChickenPie|AlienChickenPie]] 14:10, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

== Proposal ==

Would it be useful to add this pattern?
<div style="font-family: monospace; white-space: pre; line-height: 126.5%"><nowiki>
▒▒.▒▒▒▒.▒▒
▒.▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒
.▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒.
▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒.▒
</nowiki></div>
* Labor: 20% of the tiles are excavated.
* Scarcity: Any scarcity. Clusters as small as a single tile are revealed.
* Visibility: 100%.
* Reusability: With a bit of imagination you can build nice 3x3 rooms

I usually dig a diagonal squares with the sides 25 tiles long. And use this pattern later. (See Minepoint at map archive). It shows (almost) every vein...[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 09:16, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

:I fixed the formatting. Hope you don't mind. --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 10:18, 14 March 2008 (EDT)
::Not at all. I was hoping that someone would come over and give it a proper wiki makeover.
::As for the layout, It's incredibly good. It's superior to the rows layout in every way, and it's less work intensive than the 7X7 block layout while giving full visibility.
::Comparing all the layouts gave me an idea- We could group all the block layouts into a single block layout, seeing as they are all very similar and related. Different characters would denote different phases in the digging process. Then, we could introduce the block layout as modular, the diagonal layout as efficient and the hollow layout as thorough. I have half a mind to scrap the row layout altogether, seeing as it's pretty inferior.
::--[[User:AlienChickenPie|AlienChickenPie]] 14:33, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

40d Talk:Exploratory mining

2008-03-14T18:11:11Z

AlienChickenPie: /* Proposal */

40d Talk:Exploratory mining

2008-03-14T18:10:49Z

AlienChickenPie:

This is a guide on how to search for valuable materials by mining. 
...why is there any use for it? --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 18:52, 13 March 2008 (EDT)

:I think it's useful. The need for more resources, unless you're extremely lucky in the beginning, is not satisfied by the fort's initial digging efforts or its natural expansion. This usually leads to the need to dig in order to reveal large areas, and more often not, the most intuitive method the player thinks up is not the most efficient for their situation. Mining labor, being pretty scarce even for a medium sized fortress, shouldn't be squandered by using an inefficient method, especially if you want fast results.
:--[[User:AlienChickenPie|AlienChickenPie]] 04:13, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

::Mining labor? Scarce? O.o.
::Grab a few peasant immigrants (or miner immigrants if you get any - they come with picks), get picks for them, and start them mining. If you mine out a significant area (like, "enough that you want more than two miners") you'll have legendary miners within a year.
::But alright. I do agree that efficiency in exploratory mining is useful, since without it you ruin the area and get lots of useless stone. However, I argue that this article states things that should not be in a manual of any sort: We don't tell you how to make your fortress. We tell you what happens when X happens and we tell you what to do to get Y.
::But you still disagree, I assume? Alright. If it really is bad, the article will get deleted/shrunk/merged. If it isn't, we should do it right.
::<nowiki>*brings out the umkey*</nowiki>
::--[[User:Savok|Savok]] 10:18, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

== Proposal ==

Would it be useful to add this pattern?
<div style="font-family: monospace; white-space: pre; line-height: 126.5%"><nowiki>
▒▒.▒▒▒▒.▒▒
▒.▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒
.▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒.
▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒.▒
</nowiki></div>
* Labor: 20% of the tiles are excavated.
* Scarcity: Any scarcity. Clusters as small as a single tile are revealed.
* Visibility: 100%.
* Reusability: With a bit of imagination you can build nice 3x3 rooms

I usually dig a diagonal squares with the sides 25 tiles long. And use this pattern later. (See Minepoint at map archive). It shows (almost) every vein...[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 09:16, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

:I fixed the formatting. Hope you don't mind. --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 10:18, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

I see what you're getting at, it would definitely be wrong to state design tips as facts or tell people how to build their fortress.
However, this article is intended to be a technical guide to mining methods, not a style guide. I'd like to make it as neutral and factual as possible.
Going over it again, I noticed that parts of it are written inappropriately for a technical article. For example, the usability part definitely steps quite a bit over the line, and I wouldn't mind seeing it removed or altered to contain only necessary facts.
--[[User:AlienChickenPie|AlienChickenPie]] 14:10, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

40d Talk:Exploratory mining

2008-03-14T08:13:11Z

AlienChickenPie:

This is a guide on how to search for valuable materials by mining. 
...why is there any use to it? --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 18:52, 13 March 2008 (EDT)

I think it's useful. The need for more resources, unless you're extremely lucky in the beginning, is not satisfied by the fort's initial digging efforts or its natural expansion. This usually leads to the need to dig in order to reveal large areas, and more often not, the most intuitive method the player thinks up is not the most efficient for their situation. Mining labor, being pretty scarce even for a medium sized fortress, shouldn't be squandered by using an inefficient method, especially if you want fast results.
--[[User:AlienChickenPie|AlienChickenPie]] 04:13, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

40d:Exploratory mining

2008-03-13T22:11:31Z

AlienChickenPie: Replaced the row method with a better version

Exploratory mining is the process of mining large areas in order to obtain resources such as [[gems]], [[metal]] [[ores]] and other types of [[stone|rock]]. It is also used, to a lesser extent, to find the locations of hidden underground features such as [[chasm]]s, [[underground river]]s, [[magma]] and [[adamantine]].
The most straightforward method is to mark a large rectangular area for digging. Unfortunately, this method is also the least efficient. More efficient digging patterns involve digging out a smaller percentage of the stone in a given area, but still revealing a large percentage of the stone. These patterns are compromises, which depend on factors that will be described in this article.
Note that exploratory mining is the process dedicated solely to discovery of resources and features. The digging process is usually separated, and not discussed here in great detail.
The [[cheating]] counterpart to exploratory mining is the infamous [[utilities#reveal.exe|reveal]] tool.

==Factors in exploratory mining==
These are the factors we shall consider for each digging pattern. Knowing them and deciding on their priority will help you find the most suitable pattern.
Most of the factors are represented by numbers, obtained by dividing two quantities. Others are more subjective.

===Labor===
''Labor'' is the amount of work that goes into the digging process. Exploratory mining is a work intensive process, capable of straining even a large fortress, but the work that goes into different patterns varies greatly. A fortress with a large supply of skilled miners can afford to consider labor low priority. The labor factor is the fraction of stone dug out of an area, and as such, it's a percentage, between 0 and 100%.

===Scarcity===
''Scarcity''
Scarcity is the amount of desired material present in the rock layer. It's theoretically represented by the fraction of desired material in the soil layer, but one can seldom state it accurately or even estimate it. Scarcity is determined by the types of materials you're after. Single tiles are the scarcest, followed by small clusters, veins and large clusters. For the classification of your desired material, see the [[gem]] and [[stone]] articles. Undreground features are about as scarce as large clusters.

===Visibility===
''Visibility''
Visibility is the amount of tiles that you reveal in the digging process. excavated tiles are always visible, and so are the tiles immadiately adjacent to them, including diagonals. The purpose of exploratory mining is to make a single tile of the desired material visible, allowing you to switch to conventional digging and extract it. Visibility is represented by the fraction of visible tiles in the excavated area. Visibility is always a priority, but it tends to decrease in priority as scarcity decreases, because there are more tiles that need to be dug out, and not just seen.

===Reusability===
''Reusability''
Exploratory mining leaves behind a monotonous, repeating landscape. The excavated level may be hard to reuse for habitation, storage or industry without additional digging and significant rebuilding efforts that leave behind inferior walls that cannot be engraved. Reusability is subjective, and it depends on the desired layout. Reusability is represented by the largest room size achievable by digging into the solid rock left behind without rebuilding any walls. Reusability is a priority for a small fortress.

==Patterns==
Patterns are represented by a unit tile. This unit tile is repeated throughout the area intended for excavation to create the desired pattern. Each pattern is analyzed with the above factors in mind.

===Hollow===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
X 
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile

''Labor'': 100% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Any scarcity. It it exists in the layer, it will be found. 
''Visibility'': 100% of the tiles are visible, obviously. 
''Reusability'': Approaches zero. Any design other than a large hall requires reconstruction. 
''Bottom line'': Hollowing wastes labor like there's no tomorrow, but integrates extraction into the exploratory mining process. Use only if you have a lot of labor to spare, really need huge amounts of stone and don't mind the reconstruction required to make the hollow area habitable. 

===Rows===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
OOO 
OOO 
XXX
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile 
O - Tile left intact

''Labor'': 33% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Any scarcity. Clusters as small as a single tile are revealed. 
''Visibility'': 100%. 
''Reusability'': Very low. The long corridors aren't very useful, and can only be expanded to long, wide corridors. 
''Bottom line'': This method achieves the same visibility as hollowing out, but using a mere third of the labor. Ideal for hunting single-tile gems. As an added bonus, this method achieves a visibility to labor ratio of 3:1, giving you the most visibility for each tile dug out. 

===3X3 blocks===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
OOOX 
OOOX 
OOOX 
XXXX
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile 
O - Tile left intact

''Labor'': 7/16, or 43.75% of the tiles are excavated.
''Scarcity'': Small clusters and up, as there is a single unexplored space in each unit tile. 
''Visibility'': 15/16, or 93.57% of the tiles are visible. 
''Reusability'': Low. small 1X1 rooms can easily be carved out of the stone, a fitting space for a commoner's tomb. 
''Bottom line'': This method is slightly less labor intensive than a row-based design, at the expense of imperfect visibility. This method is ideal for hunting small clusters. 

===7X7 blocks===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
XXXXXXXX
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile 
O - Tile left intact

''Labor'': 15/64, or 23.4375% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Veins and up, as the large 5X5 space left in each unit tile can easily conceal a small cluster. 
''Visibility'': 34/64, or 53.125% of the tiles are visible. 
''Reusability'': Medium. The 7X7 blocks can easily be converted into 5X5 rooms, suitable for individual rooms, storage or workshops. Easily converted into the more thorough 3X3 block patten by digging through the large blocks. 
''Bottom line'': This is a low-labor method great for vein-hunting. The low labor cost puts you in a position to invest more and get better covarage if desired. 

===15X15 blocks===
Unit Tile:

Refer to the 7X7 pattern, and employ your imagination.

''Labor'': 31/256, or about 12.11% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Large clusters and up, as the large 13X13 space left in each unit tile can easily conceal quite a lot. 
''Visibility'': 89/256, or about 34.77% of the tiles are visible. 
''Reusability'': High. A 15X15 block of solid rock is extremely versatile when it comes to interior design. It's easily converted into a 7X7 block design, which may be further converted into a 3X3 block design. 
''Bottom line'': This method is preferable when you are low or labor, or when you're after an underground feature. It can easily accommodate parts of your fort, or serve as the precursor for a more thorough search. 

[[Category:Guides]]

40d:Exploratory mining

2008-03-13T21:51:51Z

AlienChickenPie: Category added

Exploratory mining is the process of mining large areas in order to obtain resources such as [[gems]], [[metal]] [[ores]] and other types of [[stone|rock]]. It is also used, to a lesser extent, to find the locations of hidden underground features such as [[chasm]]s, [[underground river]]s, [[magma]] and [[adamantine]].
The most straightforward method is to mark a large rectangular area for digging. Unfortunately, this method is also the least efficient. More efficient digging patterns involve digging out a smaller percentage of the stone in a given area, but still revealing a large percentage of the stone. These patterns are compromises, which depend on factors that will be described in this article.
Note that exploratory mining is the process dedicated solely to discovery of resources and features. The digging process is usually separated, and not discussed here in great detail.
The [[cheating]] counterpart to exploratory mining is the infamous [[utilities#reveal.exe|reveal]] tool.

==Factors in exploratory mining==
These are the factors we shall consider for each digging pattern. Knowing them and deciding on their priority will help you find the most suitable pattern.
Most of the factors are represented by numbers, obtained by dividing two quantities. Others are more subjective.

===Labor===
''Labor'' is the amount of work that goes into the digging process. Exploratory mining is a work intensive process, capable of straining even a large fortress, but the work that goes into different patterns varies greatly. A fortress with a large supply of skilled miners can afford to consider labor low priority. The labor factor is the fraction of stone dug out of an area, and as such, it's a percentage, between 0 and 100%.

===Scarcity===
''Scarcity''
Scarcity is the amount of desired material present in the rock layer. It's theoretically represented by the fraction of desired material in the soil layer, but one can seldom state it accurately or even estimate it. Scarcity is determined by the types of materials you're after. Single tiles are the scarcest, followed by small clusters, veins and large clusters. For the classification of your desired material, see the [[gem]] and [[stone]] articles. Undreground features are about as scarce as large clusters.

===Visibility===
''Visibility''
Visibility is the amount of tiles that you reveal in the digging process. excavated tiles are always visible, and so are the tiles immadiately adjacent to them, including diagonals. The purpose of exploratory mining is to make a single tile of the desired material visible, allowing you to switch to conventional digging and extract it. Visibility is represented by the fraction of visible tiles in the excavated area. Visibility is always a priority, but it tends to decrease in priority as scarcity decreases, because there are more tiles that need to be dug out, and not just seen.

===Reusability===
''Reusability''
Exploratory mining leaves behind a monotonous, repeating landscape. The excavated level may be hard to reuse for habitation, storage or industry without additional digging and significant rebuilding efforts that leave behind inferior walls that cannot be engraved. Reusability is subjective, and it depends on the desired layout. Reusability is represented by the largest room size achievable by digging into the solid rock left behind without rebuilding any walls. Reusability is a priority for a small fortress.

==Patterns==
Patterns are represented by a unit tile. This unit tile is repeated throughout the area intended for excavation to create the desired pattern. Each pattern is analyzed with the above factors in mind.

===Hollow===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
X 
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile

''Labor'': 100% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Any scarcity. It it exists in the layer, it will be found. 
''Visibility'': 100% of the tiles are visible, obviously. 
''Reusability'': Approaches zero. Any design other than a large hall requires reconstruction. 
''Bottom line'': Hollowing wastes labor like there's no tomorrow, but integrates extraction into the exploratory mining process. Use only if you have a lot of labor to spare, really need huge amounts of stone and don't mind the reconstruction required to make the hollow area habitable. 

===Rows===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
OO 
XX
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile 
O - Tile left intact

''Labor'': 50% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Any scarcity. Clusters as small as a single tile are revealed. 
''Visibility'': 100%. 
''Reusability'': Very low. The long, thin corridors aren't very useful, and can only be expanded to long, wide corridors. 
''Bottom line'': This method achieves the same visibility as hollowing out, but using half the labor. Ideal for hunting single-tile gems. 

===3X3 blocks===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
OOOX 
OOOX 
OOOX 
XXXX
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile 
O - Tile left intact

''Labor'': 7/16, or 43.75% of the tiles are excavated.
''Scarcity'': Small clusters and up, as there is a single unexplored space in each unit tile. 
''Visibility'': 15/16, or 93.57% of the tiles are visible. 
''Reusability'': Low. small 1X1 rooms can easily be carved out of the stone, a fitting space for a commoner's tomb. 
''Bottom line'': This method is slightly less labor intensive than a row-based design, at the expense of imperfect visibility. This method is ideal for hunting small clusters. 

===7X7 blocks===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
XXXXXXXX
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile 
O - Tile left intact

''Labor'': 15/64, or 23.4375% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Veins and up, as the large 5X5 space left in each unit tile can easily conceal a small cluster. 
''Visibility'': 34/64, or 53.125% of the tiles are visible. 
''Reusability'': Medium. The 7X7 blocks can easily be converted into 5X5 rooms, suitable for individual rooms, storage or workshops. Easily converted into the more thorough 3X3 block patten by digging through the large blocks. 
''Bottom line'': This is a low-labor method great for vein-hunting. The low labor cost puts you in a position to invest more and get better covarage if desired. 

===15X15 blocks===
Unit Tile:

Refer to the 7X7 pattern, and employ your imagination.

''Labor'': 31/256, or about 12.11% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Large clusters and up, as the large 13X13 space left in each unit tile can easily conceal quite a lot. 
''Visibility'': 89/256, or about 34.77% of the tiles are visible. 
''Reusability'': High. A 15X15 block of solid rock is extremely versatile when it comes to interior design. It's easily converted into a 7X7 block design, which may be further converted into a 3X3 block design. 
''Bottom line'': This method is preferable when you are low or labor, or when you're after an underground feature. It can easily accommodate parts of your fort, or serve as the precursor for a more thorough search. 

[[Category:Guides]]

40d:Digging

2008-03-13T21:50:27Z

AlienChickenPie: Shameless plug

'''Digging''' is a group of actions available from the [[:category:designations|{{K|d}}esignations menu]]. Digging is performed by dwarven [[miner]]s in order to create empty spaces, hollow out material or dig stairs and ramps. All dig actions require a dwarf with the miner skill and an available [[pick]].

=== Digging in 3D ===

The map is divided in ''layers''. Tiles on each layer are composed by whatever is on that tile, and the floor (or absence of floor) below it. A virgin rock tile is composed of a wall of rock and a floor of rock, for example. The ''ceiling'' of a tile is the same thing as the floor of the layer above that tile.

The most basic dig action is {{K|d}} '''mine'''. When this option is selected you can mark areas to be hollowed out from the current layer. Any useful material such as rock or ore is deposited on the ground excavated by the tile. Digging a tile preserves both the floor and the ceiling of that tile. 

[[Image:DF_Terraform.PNG|thumb|500px]]

A similar action to dig is {{K|h}} '''channel'''. With this option it is possible to either select floor tiles (already dug out with {{k|d}}ig) or 'full' tiles. When dug out, the floor (as well as a wall if it exists) on your layer will be removed and the tile on the layer below will be dug out. Creating a channel could be described as 'strip mining'.

Because it has the potential of removing two layers of wall and one of floor, channeling has the potential to be the fastest mining method. However, be careful that multiple miners working on the same channel don't undermine each other, causing them to fall through to the tile below. If this happens you may need to build a stair or a ramp in order for the fallen miner to escape.

Indiscriminate mining may cause [[Cave-in]]s.

=== Stairs & Ramps ===

For dwarves to move upwards and downwards between levels the construction of [[stairway]]s and [[ramp]]s is required. The most reliable way to assist your constructions is to dig an [[upward stairway]] on the lower level and [[downward stairway]] above. '''[[Stairs]] down''' only remove the floor, and '''Upward stairways''' do not affect the floor or the ceiling. '''Up/Down stairways''' act as a combination of both.

You can also construct these out of rocks or wood, but well placed dig commands are quicker. Digging downwards from the surface, first dig a {{K|j}} '''downward stairway'''. If you wait for this to be dug you will then see a visible block on the layer below where the stairway connects. In this tile dig an {{K|u}}'''pward stairway'''. Your dwarves will now be able to access both levels using these stairs. It is advisable to build one of these before channeling in order for your dwarves to escape.

It may be convenient to build an {{K|i}} '''up/down stairway'''. This automatically creates a downward stairway on the floor above if you have not done so.{{Verify}} This style creates an X symbol in place of a < on the default tileset, but leaves a > symbol on the floor above. You can also make a long series of up/down stairways directly above/below each other to make a long staircase that encompasses many levels.

Upward [[Ramp]]s remove the ceiling above them and create a down-ramp automatically. They can't be used by dwarves unless built specifically. Up-ramps can be found in the same submenu of the {{K|d}}esignation menu as up- and down-staircases.

Ramps should be avoided until you need to provide access to caravans as dwarves on the upper level cannot perform actions such as dig, or build when standing on the ramp ''(imagine they are 'half way' up the ramp)''.

Stairs and Ramps can be removed using the {{K|z}} '''remove up stairs/ramps''' command, ''if those ramps were originally built by digging''. Select this and mark the stairs/ramps to be dug out.

==Dig Priority==

Dwarves mine in veins: after mining a tile, a miner will pick the "next" tile (a tile that is adjacent to the one just mined). If there are several possible "next" tiles, the miner seems to pick randomly{{verify}}; this can break a large area into a large number of veins, which is inefficient.

To pick a vein (which is to say, a tile designated for some kind of dig job), dwarves seem to use a strategy similar to the one used for chopping trees or selecting plants to gather. Generally, they seem to pick the deepest, northwestern-most vein{{verify}}. Notably, dwarves do not pick the closest vein.

Dwarves have a priority over which side they will mine out from. Unless there is something in the way, miners will try to walk around unmined areas to reach these preferred sides, even if that path is very long. In order from most preferred to least preferred, dwarves prefer to stand on the tile to the: <blockquote>West > East > North > South > NW > SW > NE > SE</blockquote> of the tile being dug.

Because dwarves all use the same method to choose veins, dwarves tend to dig tiles near other dwarves. This makes having multiple dwarves dig together a bit problematic, as they will often get in each others' way.

Z-axis preferences untested, though it appears to me that dwarves prefer to dig out lower areas from a diagonally located area (i.e. not standing on the down stairs while digging out the up stairs directly below the down) {{verify}}.

These details are accurate for version 38b; they are likely to change in later versions.

==Map Structure==
If you are still confused about tunnels, floors and ceilings created by the mine command then look at the following diagram:

TOP VIEWS: SIDE VIEW:
LAYER 3 FROM ->
██████..- 5 ██████
██████..- 4 ██████
->██████..- 3 ██████__
██████..- 2 ████
██████..- 1 █████████

LAYER 2
████████.
████████.
->████.....
████████.
████████.

Key:
█ Solid rock
. Floor, visible from this layer
- Empty space, with a floor below
_ Ceiling (undermined section)

The Top Views try to show how digging into the mountain (on Layer 2) leaves a ceiling (floor) on the layer above. This is represented on the Side View by a thin line. Try to think of the mountain as a series of boxes where with a thin lid ontop of each. At any place the box can be filled or empty, and the lid above be there or not there. For example, you can create a wall and build a floor ontop of it. (Building a wall creates a floor on the next level by default, but this doesn't stop you building another floor construction ontop of it!)

''Revised theory'': Imagine the 3D world as a grid of boxes. Each box can have one of three states; [[Wall]]ed, [[Open space]], [[Floor]].
*Each cube can only be in one of these states.
*If a tile is Walled it is inaccessible, but the box above can be walked on (if an Open space or a Floor).
*If it is [[Open space]], then it has no Floor and may be accessible.
*If a Floor is present, then the box is accessible.
*Additionally, floor constructions can be built in an Open space or a Floor box provided there is access from the side
--[[User:Markavian|Markavian]] (Please discuss)

== See also ==
* [[Map tile]]s - Different types of walled, floor and open spaces
* [[Mining]] - A description of the miner skill, used for digging
* [[Exploratory Mining]] - Digging to search for things
[[Category:Guides]]

40d:Exploratory mining

2008-03-13T21:46:45Z

AlienChickenPie: A pinch of consistency

Exploratory mining is the process of mining large areas in order to obtain resources such as [[gems]], [[metal]] [[ores]] and other types of [[stone|rock]]. It is also used, to a lesser extent, to find the locations of hidden underground features such as [[chasm]]s, [[underground river]]s, [[magma]] and [[adamantine]].
The most straightforward method is to mark a large rectangular area for digging. Unfortunately, this method is also the least efficient. More efficient digging patterns involve digging out a smaller percentage of the stone in a given area, but still revealing a large percentage of the stone. These patterns are compromises, which depend on factors that will be described in this article.
Note that exploratory mining is the process dedicated solely to discovery of resources and features. The digging process is usually separated, and not discussed here in great detail.
The [[cheating]] counterpart to exploratory mining is the infamous [[utilities#reveal.exe|reveal]] tool.

==Factors in exploratory mining==
These are the factors we shall consider for each digging pattern. Knowing them and deciding on their priority will help you find the most suitable pattern.
Most of the factors are represented by numbers, obtained by dividing two quantities. Others are more subjective.

===Labor===
''Labor'' is the amount of work that goes into the digging process. Exploratory mining is a work intensive process, capable of straining even a large fortress, but the work that goes into different patterns varies greatly. A fortress with a large supply of skilled miners can afford to consider labor low priority. The labor factor is the fraction of stone dug out of an area, and as such, it's a percentage, between 0 and 100%.

===Scarcity===
''Scarcity''
Scarcity is the amount of desired material present in the rock layer. It's theoretically represented by the fraction of desired material in the soil layer, but one can seldom state it accurately or even estimate it. Scarcity is determined by the types of materials you're after. Single tiles are the scarcest, followed by small clusters, veins and large clusters. For the classification of your desired material, see the [[gem]] and [[stone]] articles. Undreground features are about as scarce as large clusters.

===Visibility===
''Visibility''
Visibility is the amount of tiles that you reveal in the digging process. excavated tiles are always visible, and so are the tiles immadiately adjacent to them, including diagonals. The purpose of exploratory mining is to make a single tile of the desired material visible, allowing you to switch to conventional digging and extract it. Visibility is represented by the fraction of visible tiles in the excavated area. Visibility is always a priority, but it tends to decrease in priority as scarcity decreases, because there are more tiles that need to be dug out, and not just seen.

===Reusability===
''Reusability''
Exploratory mining leaves behind a monotonous, repeating landscape. The excavated level may be hard to reuse for habitation, storage or industry without additional digging and significant rebuilding efforts that leave behind inferior walls that cannot be engraved. Reusability is subjective, and it depends on the desired layout. Reusability is represented by the largest room size achievable by digging into the solid rock left behind without rebuilding any walls. Reusability is a priority for a small fortress.

==Patterns==
Patterns are represented by a unit tile. This unit tile is repeated throughout the area intended for excavation to create the desired pattern. Each pattern is analyzed with the above factors in mind.

===Hollow===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
X 
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile

''Labor'': 100% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Any scarcity. It it exists in the layer, it will be found. 
''Visibility'': 100% of the tiles are visible, obviously. 
''Reusability'': Approaches zero. Any design other than a large hall requires reconstruction. 
''Bottom line'': Hollowing wastes labor like there's no tomorrow, but integrates extraction into the exploratory mining process. Use only if you have a lot of labor to spare, really need huge amounts of stone and don't mind the reconstruction required to make the hollow area habitable. 

===Rows===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
OO 
XX
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile 
O - Tile left intact

''Labor'': 50% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Any scarcity. Clusters as small as a single tile are revealed. 
''Visibility'': 100%. 
''Reusability'': Very low. The long, thin corridors aren't very useful, and can only be expanded to long, wide corridors. 
''Bottom line'': This method achieves the same visibility as hollowing out, but using half the labor. Ideal for hunting single-tile gems. 

===3X3 blocks===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
OOOX 
OOOX 
OOOX 
XXXX
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile 
O - Tile left intact

''Labor'': 7/16, or 43.75% of the tiles are excavated.
''Scarcity'': Small clusters and up, as there is a single unexplored space in each unit tile. 
''Visibility'': 15/16, or 93.57% of the tiles are visible. 
''Reusability'': Low. small 1X1 rooms can easily be carved out of the stone, a fitting space for a commoner's tomb. 
''Bottom line'': This method is slightly less labor intensive than a row-based design, at the expense of imperfect visibility. This method is ideal for hunting small clusters. 

===7X7 blocks===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
XXXXXXXX
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile 
O - Tile left intact

''Labor'': 15/64, or 23.4375% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Veins and up, as the large 5X5 space left in each unit tile can easily conceal a small cluster. 
''Visibility'': 34/64, or 53.125% of the tiles are visible. 
''Reusability'': Medium. The 7X7 blocks can easily be converted into 5X5 rooms, suitable for individual rooms, storage or workshops. Easily converted into the more thorough 3X3 block patten by digging through the large blocks. 
''Bottom line'': This is a low-labor method great for vein-hunting. The low labor cost puts you in a position to invest more and get better covarage if desired. 

===15X15 blocks===
Unit Tile:

Refer to the 7X7 pattern, and employ your imagination.

''Labor'': 31/256, or about 12.11% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Large clusters and up, as the large 13X13 space left in each unit tile can easily conceal quite a lot. 
''Visibility'': 89/256, or about 34.77% of the tiles are visible. 
''Reusability'': High. A 15X15 block of solid rock is extremely versatile when it comes to interior design. It's easily converted into a 7X7 block design, which may be further converted into a 3X3 block design. 
''Bottom line'': This method is preferable when you are low or labor, or when you're after an underground feature. It can easily accommodate parts of your fort, or serve as the precursor for a more thorough search.

40d:Exploratory mining

2008-03-13T21:44:47Z

AlienChickenPie: A guide for large scale digging intended to reveal underground features or sought-after resources

Exploratory mining is the process of mining large areas in order to obtain resources such as [[gems]], [[metal]] [[ores]] and other types of [[stone|rock]]. It is also used, to a lesser extent, to find the locations of hidden underground features such as [[chasm]]s, [[underground river]]s, [[magma]] and [[adamantine]].
The most straightforward method is to mark a large rectangular area for digging. Unfortunately, this method is also the least efficient. More efficient digging patterns involve digging out a smaller percentage of the stone in a given area, but still revealing a large percentage of the stone. These patterns are compromises, which depend on factors that will be described in this article.
Note that exploratory digging is the process dedicated solely to discovery of resources and features. The digging process is usually separated, and not discussed here in great detail.
The [[cheating]] counterpart to exploratory digging is the infamous [[utilities#reveal.exe|reveal]] tool.

==Factors in exploratory digging==
These are the factors we shall consider for each digging pattern. Knowing them and deciding on their priority will help you find the most suitable pattern.
Most of the factors are represented by numbers, obtained by dividing two quantities. Others are more subjective.

===Labor===
''Labor'' is the amount of work that goes into the digging process. Exploratory digging is a work intensive process, capable of straining even a large fortress, but the work that goes into different patterns varies greatly. A fortress with a large supply of skilled miners can afford to consider labor low priority. The labor factor is the fraction of stone dug out of an area, and as such, it's a percentage, between 0 and 100%.

===Scarcity===
''Scarcity''
Scarcity is the amount of desired material present in the rock layer. It's theoretically represented by the fraction of desired material in the soil layer, but one can seldom state it accurately or even estimate it. Scarcity is determined by the types of materials you're after. Single tiles are the scarcest, followed by small clusters, veins and large clusters. For the classification of your desired material, see the [[gem]] and [[stone]] articles. Undreground features are about as scarce as large clusters.

===Visibility===
''Visibility''
Visibility is the amount of tiles that you reveal in the digging process. excavated tiles are always visible, and so are the tiles immadiately adjacent to them, including diagonals. The purpose of exploratory digging is to make a single tile of the desired material visible, allowing you to switch to conventional digging and extract it. Visibility is represented by the fraction of visible tiles in the excavated area. Visibility is always a priority, but it tends to decrease in priority as scarcity decreases, because there are more tiles that need to be dug out, and not just seen.

===Reusability===
''Reusability''
Exploratory digging leaves behind a monotonous, repeating landscape. The excavated level may be hard to reuse for habitation, storage or industry without additional digging and significant rebuilding efforts that leave behind inferior walls that cannot be engraved. Reusability is subjective, and it depends on the desired layout. Reusability is represented by the largest room size achievable by digging into the solid rock left behind without rebuilding any walls. Reusability is a priority for a small fortress.

==Patterns==
Patterns are represented by a unit tile. This unit tile is repeated throughout the area intended for excavation to create the desired pattern. Each pattern is analyzed with the above factors in mind.

===Hollow===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
X 
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile

''Labor'': 100% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Any scarcity. It it exists in the layer, it will be found. 
''Visibility'': 100% of the tiles are visible, obviously. 
''Reusability'': Approaches zero. Any design other than a large hall requires reconstruction. 
''Bottom line'': Hollowing wastes labor like there's no tomorrow, but integrates extraction into the exploratory digging process. Use only if you have a lot of labor to spare, really need huge amounts of stone and don't mind the reconstruction required to make the hollow area habitable. 

===Rows===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
OO 
XX
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile 
O - Tile left intact

''Labor'': 50% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Any scarcity. Clusters as small as a single tile are revealed. 
''Visibility'': 100%. 
''Reusability'': Very low. The long, thin corridors aren't very useful, and can only be expanded to long, wide corridors. 
''Bottom line'': This method achieves the same visibility as hollowing out, but using half the labor. Ideal for hunting single-tile gems. 

===3X3 blocks===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
OOOX 
OOOX 
OOOX 
XXXX
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile 
O - Tile left intact

''Labor'': 7/16, or 43.75% of the tiles are excavated.
''Scarcity'': Small clusters and up, as there is a single unexplored space in each unit tile. 
''Visibility'': 15/16, or 93.57% of the tiles are visible. 
''Reusability'': Low. small 1X1 rooms can easily be carved out of the stone, a fitting space for a commoner's tomb. 
''Bottom line'': This method is slightly less labor intensive than a row-based design, at the expense of imperfect visibility. This method is ideal for hunting small clusters. 

===7X7 blocks===
Unit Tile:

<tt>
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
OOOOOOOX 
XXXXXXXX
</tt>

Key: 
X - Excavated tile 
O - Tile left intact

''Labor'': 15/64, or 23.4375% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Veins and up, as the large 5X5 space left in each unit tile can easily conceal a small cluster. 
''Visibility'': 34/64, or 53.125% of the tiles are visible. 
''Reusability'': Medium. The 7X7 blocks can easily be converted into 5X5 rooms, suitable for individual rooms, storage or workshops. Easily converted into the more thorough 3X3 block patten by digging through the large blocks. 
''Bottom line'': This is a low-labor method great for vein-hunting. The low labor cost puts you in a position to invest more and get better covarage if desired. 

===15X15 blocks===
Unit Tile:

Refer to the 7X7 pattern, and employ your imagination.

''Labor'': 31/256, or about 12.11% of the tiles are excavated. 
''Scarcity'': Large clusters and up, as the large 13X13 space left in each unit tile can easily conceal quite a lot. 
''Visibility'': 89/256, or about 34.77% of the tiles are visible. 
''Reusability'': High. A 15X15 block of solid rock is extremely versatile when it comes to interior design. It's easily converted into a 7X7 block design, which may be further converted into a 3X3 block design. 
''Bottom line'': This method is preferable when you are low or labor, or when you're after an underground feature. It can easily accommodate parts of your fort, or serve as the precursor for a more thorough search.