Iron Bars?

[DrPhiloponus]

Hi,

I'm somehow confused how metal working works. I have coal I have a lot of different ores, but the smelter already requires bars (?). How do I process iron ore into iron bars?

Thanks.

[The Trashman]

Are you looking at pig iron? You should have options like 'smelt hematite' for your iron ore

[LaChouette]

If the coal you have is bituminous coal, you need to make it into coke at the smelter to use it as fuel.
However, to make it into coke, you need fuel, which means you're going to need to make at least one unit of charcoal from burning wood in a wood furnace.

At least that's how it worked before Steam version, I have not used those workshops yet in the current version.

[Bean]

What kind of coal? Because you need bars of FUEL not IRON. Coal needs to be processed into coke, so first start a wood furnace to make charcoal then use that to make coke

[THE GNOME]

Metal bars coming from ore smelting. What ores smelt into what you can check by smelting it and looking what appeared in the workshop or checking out dwarf fortress wiki.

[The Trashman]

Originally posted by LaChouette:

If the coal you have is bituminous coal, you need to make it into coke at the smelter to use it as fuel.
However, to make it into coke, you need fuel, which means you're going to need to make at least one unit of charcoal from burning wood in a wood furnace.

At least that's how it worked before Steam version, I have not used those workshops yet in the current version.

Good point - can confirm this is how it works. You need charcoal from a wood burner workshop(/furnace) to process your first coal

[CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate]

Originally posted by DrPhiloponus:

Hi,

I'm somehow confused how metal working works. I have coal I have a lot of different ores, but the smelter already requires bars (?). How do I process iron ore into iron bars?

Thanks.

You don't specifically make iron bars. There are 3 ores you can smelt that result in iron. The game requires you to know which ones are which, but if you go to the ore, it will tell you what it can be made into.

Here are the 3:
Magnetite, comes in very large oval veins.
Hematite, red, comes in long thin veins.
Limonite, put it in a coconut and shake... wait, no it comes in smaller clusters.

Other than these 3 ores, no other ore will produce iron.

Other notable ores that might confuse you is Tetrahedrite produces copper and a chance of silver, Cassiterite is tin, Galena is lead with a chance of silver, Sphalerite which is zinc, Malachite which is copper, and Garnierite which is nickel.

Note that both tetrahedrite and galena have a chance of producing silver, not a guaranteed silver drop. If you want to get the silver, do not make bronze from tetrahedrite directly. Instead smelt it into bars first, then make bronze from bars. It costs more fuel, but you get silver from the result.

[THE GNOME]

To smelt something you need a fuel item: charcoal bar or coke. Coke comes from bituminous coal and can be made in a smelter. Charcoal comes from any type of wood and can be made in a wood burner furnace.

[vonsch]

Originally posted by The Trashman:

Originally posted by LaChouette:

If the coal you have is bituminous coal, you need to make it into coke at the smelter to use it as fuel.
However, to make it into coke, you need fuel, which means you're going to need to make at least one unit of charcoal from burning wood in a wood furnace.

At least that's how it worked before Steam version, I have not used those workshops yet in the current version.

Good point - can confirm this is how it works. You need charcoal from a wood burner workshop(/furnace) to process your first coal

Or you can embark with a bar or two to jumpstart coke-making.

[vonsch]

And magma is the best fuel :)

[CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate]

Originally posted by dan:

Originally posted by The Trashman:

Good point - can confirm this is how it works. You need charcoal from a wood burner workshop(/furnace) to process your first coal

Or you can embark with a bar or two to jumpstart coke-making.

I usually tell the manager that if we ever end up with 0 coal, make a bar of charcoal to keep us smelting. That is until we get to the magma.

[DrPhiloponus]

Thanks to all. I also realized that I have more work orders available than "tasks".

[CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate]

Originally posted by DrPhiloponus:

Thanks to all. I also realized that I have more work orders available than "tasks".

No problem. The game is complex, and you have a heavy degree of control, but the UI is historically obtuse. It takes quite a while to learn how to use it effectively.

[No Reason]

I get the cult following this game has, because of the complex simulation, but I really wish they had put more care into being consistent. The fact there is a Smelt Pig Iron Bars and a Smelt Steel Bars, but not a Smelt Iron Bars is ridiculous. I understand having a task to Smelt Hematite to force making iron, but there should be a task to Smelt Iron Bars that accepts any iron containing ore. Either that, or smelt Pig Iron bars should be called Smelt Iron and Flux. The inconsistency is frustrating as heck

[Helios]

Originally posted by No Reason:

I get the cult following this game has, because of the complex simulation, but I really wish they had put more care into being consistent. The fact there is a Smelt Pig Iron Bars and a Smelt Steel Bars, but not a Smelt Iron Bars is ridiculous. I understand having a task to Smelt Hematite to force making iron, but there should be a task to Smelt Iron Bars that accepts any iron containing ore. Either that, or smelt Pig Iron bars should be called Smelt Iron and Flux. The inconsistency is frustrating as heck

its just realism and us used to dumbed down iron ore veins (someone mentioned wow were the first to do it) they use names of real ore you can get iron out any realistic alchemy simulation also has some of the other ones like galena.

[ParanoiacPi]

I think a 'smelt iron ore' option would be nice. Kind of like how you can just make crafts instead of saying you want crowns or rings.